The Void
by Akanesi
Summary: Continued on from "The End Of Time", because truly, there is never an end to the madness, only new beginnings.
1. Return From The Dark

**Author's Note: **I know I shouldn't have started another fic, but what can I say? I just watched The End Of Time - Part 2, and I'm obsessed with the Master. :) So read and review, tell me what you think and, of course, enjoy. :)

* * *

"What is it?" Jack asked, seeing the Brigadier and crossing the room towards him. Jack had returned to Earth two months ago, having had a brief affair with "Alonso", which wasn't _actually_ his name.

"This." The Brigadier motioned to the view screen. On it was shown a plain concrete room, with a force shield around a corner of it. Inside the force shield a bumbling blue mass was crackling with energy.

"It's a portal," Jack answered. "When did it appear?"

"Two days ago. The two men that were in the room are dead. This is what's left of them." The Brigadier brought up another picture on the view screen. This time it showed two bodies, laid on tables. Or rather, it showed two skeletons. No flesh or muscle was left to be had. "The energy output has been steadily rising for the past 12 hours. It levelled off an hour ago.

Jack nodded, turned, and strode from the room. The Brigadier seemed to think for a moment and then followed him.

When they entered the room with the force shield, the two men guarding the inside raised their guns, lowering them again when they saw it was the Brigadier.

Jack approached the force shield. The force shield reacted by beginning to crackle angrily.

"I really don't think--" the Brigadier began. He was interrupted, however, by an unearthly scream, coming from the depths of the portal. "What the hell was that?"

Before Jack could answer again, there was another scream, and a man flew through the portal, skidding haphazardly across the floor, coming to rest against the force shield.

The Brigadier turned to one of the soldiers. "Get a medic in here."

"Wait!" Jack shouted, starting forward.

The man on the floor was breathing heavily, an arm slung over his face. As the portal faded from view though, the man raised his head shakily, staring right into Jack's eyes.

"Master," Jack whispered.

* * *

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"How should I know?" Jack responded. The Brigadier had been asking him the same questions for at least half an hour, and the balance was wearing thin. They were stood outside of the concrete room, where the Master was now kept behind the shield.

"You knew who he is. I didn't."

"Ah!" Jack threw up his hands, abandoning the Brigadier, and making his way back into the room, crossing to the edge of the force shield, crouching down to where the Master still lay. "What are you doing?"

The Master surprised him by scrabbling backwards, away from him. When the Brigadier joined him, Jack could see he was frowning too.

"What are you doing here?" Jack repeated, standing.

The Master's face was twitching, seemingly uncontrollably. "What?"

"What are you--"

"Don't know." The Master shook his head madly. "Not sure. Not definite. Not…" His voice trailed off, his hands coming up and tearing at his face. "Who are you?" He rose to his feet, screaming. "What have you done to me?"

The Brigadier and Jack exchanged uncertain looks.

"What have you done to me?" The Master started forward, stopping just short of the force shield. "What the hell have you done? Who are you? Why am I here?" When neither Jack or the Brigadier answered, he threw himself against the energy of the force shield, again and again, like a wild animal.

"What have you done?" The Master turned, throwing a fist into the concrete wall. "What…" He collapsed slightly, sagging against the wall.

"You don't remember?" Jack asked.

The Master whirled round at the voice. "No." He shook his head again, seemingly oblivious that with every shake he smashed it into the wall. "No. Don't know."

"Do you remember anything?"

The Master paused, panting, his tongue shooting in and out of his mouth, running over his lips and teeth. "Remember? Remember? Come on…" He smashed a fist into his temple. "Remember!" There was a pause. "Yes. I remember." He nodded, waving a hand at Jack, before stopping. "Maybe… I don't know. I know he'll come." He nodded again. "He'll come save me. He promised."

"Who?" asked the Brigadier.

The Master looked up, taking a few shaky steps forward. "Who. Who. Yeah… who?" He tugged at his hair, pulling a few strands out. "HIM. I… he promised he would make it go away. This!" His head shot backwards, until he was staring at the ceiling. "This… noise inside my head! You said you'd make it go away!"

He fell to his knees, quietly sobbing. "You said… Save me! You did it! Save me!" His hands bunched themselves into fists, and he screamed at the ceiling. "Doctor!"


	2. Crashing In Style

**Author's Note:** As all of the people who have reviewed, favourited, or alerted my stories know, I like to reply to all these things with a little thank you as a show of appreciation. I've always thought that if you could take the time to read and do whatever to my story, then I could damn well find the time to say thanks. :)

Since the 2nd episode I've had a gold rush of reviews, favourited and alerted stories, and have had people subscribing to my account like there's no tomorrow. I think I sent everyone a thank you PM, but if I didn't I'm sorry and thank you. There were so many I got very confused! XD

Well... here's chapter 2. Enjoy!

* * *

"Am crashing! Am crashing! Arh!" Another pillar fell with a triumphant roar. The Doctor had given up trying to do anything some time ago, and was just clinging on for dear life. "Come on, girl! You can do it!"

The TARDIS gave another shuddering roar, before bumping to a halt. The Doctor made his way gingerly over to the doors, which were now without glass. He eased open the door, somewhat worried that if he threw it open like he normally would, it would fall off.

Sticking his head outside, he could see he was in the middle of a field. A large, empty field.

He yelped as the TARDIS suddenly began to topple backwards. Jumping out just in time, he watched as his ship came to rest on her side in the mud.

"Oh dear." That seemed a bit inadequate really.

Why had his previous self attempted to stop the regeneration? All it meant now was more work for him. He sighed, hauling himself halfway up over the TARDIS, before gasping in pain and falling back.

"Knew there was something I'd forgotten." He grimaced in pain, clutching his stomach. "Regeneration…" He folded to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

"There's something over my head. There's something over my head. There's something over my head. There's…"

"He's been like that for the last hour." The Brigadier shook his head. "Are you sure that's the Master?"

"Oh, yeah." Jack nodded darkly. "I'm sure." They looked back at the screen.

"Blood. Blood everywhere. Fire. We're burning." The Master let out an insane laugh. "Pushing you back, I am. Never gonna let you hurt… hurt…" He fell into the laughter again.

"The Master I knew was never like _this_." The Brigadier spoke with a hint of pity in his voice.

"How was he when you knew him? He's always been this way, far as I'm concerned."

"He was…" The Brigadier paused, searching for the right words. "Clever. Always at the same level as the Doctor. He was the enemy, but the Doctor seemed to admire him. I don't know why." He stopped. Jack was staring at him. "What? Just because I never asked the Doctor about the Master, doesn't mean I didn't notice things."

Jack turned away. He didn't know what to do. On one hand, the man in front of him had caused him pain beyond imagining, as well as killing countless millions of humans. No one deserved to die more than him. On the other though, Jack could remember the Doctor's heart broken sobs as the Master died, and couldn't help but wonder at how happy the Doctor would be to find out he wasn't the last of kind.

He sighed, wishing he was the same man as he had been before he'd met the Doctor. Then, there would be no question. The Master would have died, horribly and painfully if possible. But now… could he kill the Master knowing that the Doctor would hate forever if he found out?

Jack sighed again, retrieved his phone from his pocket, and flipped it open.

* * *

Martha was just lying down to sleep when her phone rang. There were advantages to being a freelance agent, and bedding comfort wasn't one of them so, as she was rummaging through her backpack for her phone, she managed to swear 18 times. Must be a new record, she thought, as she flipped her phone open.

"Hello?"

"Martha?" Jack's voice was crackly and disjointed.

"Jack?"

"Yeah." There was a pause, and when Jack spoke again he was clearer. "You okay?"

"Well…" Martha looked around at her cramped accommodations, pathetic excuse for a bed, the cold spam she'd abandoned all hope of eating, and her husband's empty bed. "I'm fine," she answered.

"Good." Jack's voice was warm. "I need your help if it's not too much trouble?"

"Sure. With what?" She moved back, leaning against the wall.

"I've got someone here that the Doctor probably wants, but I don't know what I should do. I mean, everyone wants to kill him… Hell, I want to kill him, but I know that the Doctor will be pissed and I--"

"Jack!" Martha interrupted. "Slow down. Who is it?"

"What would you do?" Jack asked suddenly.

Martha took a deep breath. "I can't tell you if I don't know who it is."

"Okay… There's an alien, yeah?"

"Sure."

"Well, that alien wants to kill the Doctor."

"Then kill the alien," Martha said without hesitation.

"Therein lies my problem," Jack replied slowly. "The Doctor wants to… help the alien. And would be… angry if we killed him without talking to the Doctor first."

"Does the alien pose a threat?"

"Yes," Jack answered at once. "He's one of the most dangerous things you can come across in the galaxy."

Martha considered. "Shall I come in?"

"No," Jack answered a little too quickly. "It's fine. I just wanted to get your opinion… It doesn't matter. Never mind." He hung up.

"You all right?" Mickey entered the small room, dropping his backpack and almost falling onto his bed.

Martha chewed her lip, before rising, her decision made. "I've got to head off for a few days, okay?"

"Are you all right?" Mickey stood back up wearily.

"Yeah." She gathered her things quickly, shouldering her pack. "You'll be all right for a few days?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Be safe."

"I will," she promised, before kissing him on the cheek and moving off into the night, in the general direction of UNIT HQ.


	3. The Dark

**Author's Note: **I keep trying to study, but then I hear something that reminds me of the Doctor/Master pairing, usually a song, and the writing hands come out again.

Review and tell me that you think?

* * *

Two hours after Martha had set off for UNIT HQ, she stopped, turning in a full circle, taking in the grassy fields, a lot of hedges, and one solitary cow. She was lost.

She took a deep breath, so she wouldn't kick the cow, which had wandered over to her, and was busy seeing if her hair was edible or not. Pulling out her phone, she swatted the cow's head away, and dialled Jack's number.

"_You are out of range at this time. We are sorry for the inconvenience."_

Martha groaned. Maybe the forest would help her? She could climb one of the trees and see if there was any semblance of civilisation nearby. She set off towards the tree line. The cow followed.

* * *

Jack had been watching the Master for the last hour. In that hour, the Master had not moved a muscle, leaving his head hanging to his chest. It didn't even look as if he was breathing.

"What's he doing?" The Brigadier asked.

"Plotting world domination?" How the hell should I know, thought Jack?

At the sound of their voices, the Master's head raised fractionally. "Freak." His eyes were fixed on Jack, who stiffened. The Master put his head on one side, stretching the muscles in his neck to near breaking point. "Do they know? Know what… what…" He growled suddenly, and seemed to take a bite out of the air. "Do they know your secret?" He giggled madly. "Cut you up, they would."

Jack's eyes narrowed, watching the Master's head as it swayed from side to side. "What happened to you?"

I look of fear overcame the Master's face. It was never a look that Jack thought he would see on the Master's face, and to see someone who was usually so in control break, was frightening.

"I saw… saw the dark."

"The dark?" Jack's mind immediately went to the number of time 'the dark' had been mentioned to him.

"_It's coming, Jack. Can't you feel it? It's coming from the dark."_

"_There's something out there… in the dark. It's waiting. It's coming for you!"_

Jack shivered, pulling himself back to the present as the Master nodded slowly. "Yes. The dark." He started to chew at the inside of his mouth. "It was everywhere… all around me… no escape…" He looked straight at Jack. "The burning… it hurt. Oh, god," he sobbed. "It hurt!"

* * *

Martha was perched precariously on one of the upper branches on an oak tree. The cow had not followed her up the tree.

So far she had turned to south, west, and north, and had seen nothing but fields, fields, and more forest. As she manoeuvred herself into position to look east, she heard a rustle of leaves from below her. Someone was walking over the fallen leaves on the ground. She pressed herself automatically to the tree trunk, peering down through the branches.

Through the disjointed view the tree offered her of the ground, she could make out a man and younger boy, between them carrying another man, face down. The man and boy who were doing the carrying were straining with the effort and she heard the adult say, "not much further" to the boy.

The man being carried was obviously unconscious. He wore an overly big, brown coat, and had hair that curled haphazardly around his neck.

* * *

The Master's body hurt. There seemed to be pins and needles travelling up and down his arms, and his teeth worrying at his lips until they bled didn't help.

The Freak was talking to him, but the Master was barely listening.

_The Freak's not important. You see what's important, don't you?_

The Master nodded, cracking his skull back against the concrete wall. The Freak paused for a second, then continued.

_You know what we need? Who we need?_

"Yes," the Master whispered.

* * *

The Doctor gasped in pain, keeping his eyes tight shut. "Ow." He rolled over onto his side, expecting to feel cold, wet mud beneath him. Instead though, something dry and smooth met his fingers. His head _hurt_ and, as he tried to open his eyes, pain exploded behind his eyes.

He could hear whispers, though whether they were real or just a part of his regeneration-madness, he didn't know.

"_Where _did you find him?"

"Well….can't stay."

"Why……?"

"Look at him. That suit obviously……….belong…. him."

"He's………a vagrant."

"He was……alone………couldn't just leave……"

The Doctor gave up trying to decipher the voices, and fell into unconsciousness once more.


	4. Need

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys! Sorry for the wait for this chapter, but I went a little mad with "Returning To The Start". Wouldn't let me go, and had to keep writing more and more... ;)

_

* * *

__We need him. We need him. We need him. We need him._

The Master sobbed, pushing his fingers over his temples, desperately trying to get under his skin and tear out the voice. He wanted to sleep. Why can't I sleep, he thought?

_Not until we've found him._

The voice became more soothing.

_If you find him everything will be okay. It's always been that way. You've been the dark and he's been the light. You find him… he'll make you better._

"No." The Master shook his head. "He makes it--"

_Better!_

"No," he sobbed. "It hurts."

The voice began again, ignoring his pleas for silence.

_Find him. Find him. Find him. Find him!_

* * *

Jack sat in the UNIT cafeteria, a cup of coffee sitting across the table from, getting the Jack-death-stare.

"Well, yeah. It _is _the coffee's fault, after all!"

"Hmm," Jack grunted, not bothering to look at Gwen as she sat down next to him. She had given birth a month ago, and was starting to get back to her normal self again. Her child had been a baby girl.

"Jack." Gwen took one of his hands in hers. "You've got to do the right thing."

"I know that!" Jack pulled his hand away. "I just wished I knew what the right thing was." He suddenly looked at Gwen. "What should I do?"

Gwen looked like she would rather not answer the question, but looking at Jack's imploring gaze she found she had to. "I'm not going to tell you what to do, but… you should tell the Doctor. From what you've told me, the Doctor needs him. He's the only other of his kind in existence after all."

Jack sighed. It wasn't the reaction he'd been hoping for, but in a way, Gwen was right. The Doctor had already been heart broken once when the Master died, and Jack didn't think he could do that to the Doctor again.

"Okay." He smiled. "Thanks."

* * *

Martha landed on the ground with a thump, hissing in pain as she twisted her ankle. She had had to wait until the three men had gone, with the single motive of following them. If they were up to no good, she could rescue the man who they'd been carrying. If they were innocent, then at least she could offer medical aid to the unconscious man.

Turning to follow them, she almost ran head long into the cow. How the men had not seen it, she didn't know. Strangely, when she moved to her left to try and get round the cow, the cow moved with her. Again, when she tried to move to the right, the cow did the same.

Martha slowly backed away. He cow was probably hungry, that was all. Delving into her pocket, she pulled out half of an apple. It was a little old, but she was sure the cow wouldn't mind.

She carefully threw it, so it came to rest at the cow's feet. The cow dropped its head, and seemed to sniff at the apple.

Martha began to tiptoe to her left again, when the cow looked up, and did something that she was _sure_ cows couldn't do.

"What do you call _that_?" the cow said.

* * *

The Doctor blinked his eyes open. The light was very bright, so he closed them again. Sitting up, he ran his hands across whatever he was lying on, before cautiously cracking open one eye. It looked like he was lying on a bed with white sheets. He blinked again, he vision starting to go back to normal.

Looking up, he took in a small square room.

"Bit of a disappointment really." Ooh, did he say that out loud? He frowned. "Urh!" He tried out his new voice. It was lighter than his old one. It felt like he was younger too. He decided against jumping up to prove that, as bouncing off the walls after regenerating is something you're only meant to do figuratively.

Groaning, he stood carefully, holding onto the bed until he was sure his legs would support him. He swallowed thickly. He had never understood why regenerating would leave Time Lords so incapacitated. Surely, if they'd just died, them being too weak to do anything wouldn't help them to get away from whatever had killed them, would it?

There was a door across the room, and he began to summon up the energy to walk over to it. Before he'd even taken one step though, the door opened, revealing a young woman. She had auburn hair, cut short, and was carrying a mug in her left hand.

"Hi." She seemed awkward. A feeling he probably wasn't doing anything to dispel, he reasoned, swaying precariously as he was. She came into the room fully, putting the mug she'd been carrying down by the door, before moving forward, extending a hand to him.

"Stay away from me!" Why had he said that?

Her hand withdrew, a fearful expression coming onto her face.

He ran his tongue over his new teeth, as if they were the source of his rudeness. "What is this place?"

She looked at him funnily. "This is the farmer's mill. You must know that. It's the only place with anyone living here for miles."

He bit his lip, running through the information. "So I'm on Earth?

Oops, he thought, as she began to back away. Maybe not the brightest thing to say. He tried smiling at her, but he doesn't really think this new mouth is built for it and, judging by her expression, neither does she.

She's reached the door by now, and is slowing trying to leave without him noticing. Stupid human, he found himself thinking. "I _can_ see you, you know."

She turned and ran. He ran after her. "Why are you…?" The front door banged closed. "Now that's just rude," he said to nothing in particular. "Should really have asked her where the TARDIS was…" He looked around at the walls. "Don't suppose you can help me? Only I had a blue box when I arrived. About yay high…" He stopped, realising he was holding a hand up to the height of the TARDIS when she was on her side. "Oops." He rectified the problem. "This high…" He waited. Unsurprisingly, there was no response from the walls.

"Uh," he groaned, making his way towards the door, kicking it open crossly. "Now I'm gonna have to go find her. Thanks for your help!" he called back to the house, which stayed exactly where it was, and still didn't answer him.

* * *

The Brigadier was leaning against the wall of the room where the Master was imprisoned. He watched as the Master rocked himself back and forth, remaining crouched on the floor, his arms wrapped securely around himself.

"It's coming… It's coming… It's…" The Master wrenched his head to the right, staring at the Brigadier. The look seemed to travel right through him and the Brigadier suppressed a shudder. "Did you feel it?" the Master asked.

For whatever reason, the Brigadier felt himself drawn across the room towards the force shield that was holding the Master back. "Felt what?" He crouched down to the Master's level, his knees creaking with protest.

"The power… The… It hurt." The Master's teeth bit down on his lip, travelling straight through the flesh, drawing blood. "The fire… it was everywhere." He stared right into the Brigadier's eyes. The Brigadier got the impression that there was something trapped in those eyes, screaming to be let out. "It hurt… didn't it? All the power and… Couldn't stop it. Didn't understand." The Master shook his head, a tear coming free of his left eye and running down his face. "Said I wasn't there… but they made me… had to see. God, Rassilon." The Master let out a sob, his arms coming up over his head, hiding himself from the world. "Why? What the hell did I ever do?"


	5. Bos Taurus

**Author's Note: **First off, sorry if I don't reply to any reviews I get. There seems to be something wrong with my email, and I'm not getting any alerts. When they do come through, I'll reply to them, but until they do, sorry!

Second off, hope you like! :)

* * *

Martha blinked uncertainly. She was going mad. She'd been hunting aliens for too long. She was beginning to see them in animals.

The cow put its head on one side. Martha had a sudden urge to mirror the movement, but resisted. "Pardon?"

The cow sighed. "I _said_, 'what do you call that?'." It nodded towards the apple lying on the ground.

"An apple?" Martha found herself considering the gun she had in her backpack. But she couldn't shoot a _cow_, could she?

"It's rotten." The cow reached out a hoof and prodded it. "And half eaten."

"Um…" Martha swallowed. "I'm sorry?"

"Huh!" The cow shook its head from side to side. "It's just not good enough. You know? I spend all day waiting for you… then you give me _that_. Life just isn't fair at the moment." It seemed to hang its head. "I'd rather be on the other side of the galaxy, but no! Come here, they said. It'll be great, they said. Now look at me…" It looked at Martha with sorrowful eyes. "I'm a Bos Taurus!"

"Um…" Martha said again.

"Is that all you have you say on the matter," the cow continued, its voice slipping into a deeper drone. It gave a great sniff. "No one appreciates me." It sat back on its haunches, like a dog, which, Martha decided, looked pretty stupid, seeing as it was a cow. "I'm not even getting paid unless I deliver the full package…"

The cow rumbled on, but Martha had fixed on the words 'paid' and 'full package'. What did they mean? "Um… excuse me?"

"What?" The cow raised its head.

"Why were you waiting for me?" Martha asked.

"Oh, yes." The cow seemed to raise its eyebrows. "Never mind my problems. It's all about _you_. At least that's one thing the briefing got right when it comes to humans. You're too self-occupied for words." It got up slowly, and took a step forward.

Martha took a step backwards.

"Don't be like that." The cow sounded like it was about to cry. "I just want company."

"Then why were you waiting for me?"

The cow seemed to consider, before looking up at her once again. "Oops," it said, and started a lumbering pace forward.

Martha turned and ran.

* * *

Jack met the Brigadier back in the surveillance room, where he was standing, watching the Master on the view screens.

"Have you decided what to do?" the Brigadier asked, without looking up.

"Yeah… I think." Jack glanced at the Master, who seemed to be engaged with a conversation with the wall. "I'm going to have contact him. No choice."

"And you think he'll do what?"

"Take him off Earth," Jack answered without hesitation. "Let him be the Doctor's problem. He's not human. All he's ever brought this planet is death."

The Brigadier nodded his approval. "Do you have a way of making contact?"

"Yeah." Jack took out his phone, pulled up the text Martha had sent him months ago with the Doctor's number in, and began to dial.

* * *

"Black… black and swirling… blacking... no! Black, swirling light. Pain… didn't properly understand. Couldn't make… sense."

_Are you ready?_

"I think it hurt… but… can't remember. Don't know cos… no one ever… ever asked what was wrong." A sob escaped the Master's throat.

_Are you ready?_

"Why didn't… didn't they care? Was one of… one of… What was I? One of…?"

_Are you ready?_

"I don't remember. Can you help me… remember?"

His words were answered immediately.

_He can._

_Are you ready?_

"Yes," the Master nodded.

* * *

The Doctor shivered. He stopped. Why was he shivering? He wasn't meant to feel the cold. He had never felt it before he regenerated. Oh, right. He continued walking. He had just regenerated. Everything was out of whack.

The Doctor stopped again, and giggled. He was regeneration-happy!

He yawned, suddenly very tired. "Uh." He continued on, slower this time, wary of the branches littering his path. All the trees looked pretty much the same, he decided. Why couldn't there be a helpful landmark?

A bird flew across his vision and he jumped back, before realising that it had been at the other end of the trail, and his eyesight was also playing up. He groaned again, kicking a stone along the ground.

The pain in his head had got worse. It was a constant presence, just behind his eyes. It reminded him of the drums when the Master…

No! He wasn't thinking about that. He didn't want to know what had happened. He had regenerated. He had moved on, and with it he had left everything of his old life behind. From now on he would travel alone. Forming attachments to humans only meant pain.

He looked up at the sky, distracting himself with a big sniff. Sniffing was good!

* * *

Jack hissed with annoyance. It was the sixth time he had tried the Doctor, to no avail. The Brigadier looked up at him, finally tearing his eyes away from the Master, who had begun to pace.

"What's wrong?"

"He's not answering," Jack said, as if it was obvious.

"He's probably off somewhere saving the world." The Brigadier shrugged. "A few more hours won't make any difference."

"Oh, my dear Brigadier. I'm afraid it will."

Jack and the Brigadier whirled round, their eyes fixing on a man in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall. The Master gave them a cheerful wave. "What? You thought your cage would hold me forever."

The Brigadier had a terrible sense of de-ja-vu. He could remember the feeling he had had when told the Master had escaped his prison before. The destruction the alien had raged with the Sea Devils. He had an awful feeling it was going to happen again.

Jack reacted a second later, drawing his gun, aiming it confidently at the Master's head.

The Master smiled lightly. "Jackie-boy. Really?" He shook his head. "You're as dumb as the humans sometimes."

Jack could feel the Brigadier's eyes on him, questioning. "Ooh." The Master clapped a hand over his mouth. "Did I say that out loud?" He giggled, fixing Jack with a triumphant gaze. "Try me. Go on. Do it!"

Jack shivered, as he remembered the Master saying those same words to Martha's mother, aboard the Valliant. "Get back in there."

"Yeah," the Master scoffed. "Like _that's _gonna happen." He smiled suddenly, narrowing his eyes. "I'd run if I were you. Run, run, run off to your little homes. Hide under the stairs. Turn off the lights. Blackout." He waved his hands in the air, as if he were conducting an orchestra. "Run and hide, you pathetic humans," he sneered. "The darkness is coming, and it will wipe you off the face of the Earth." He leered at Jack. "I'm coming for you!"

There was a crack like thunder, and the Master vanished. All was silent in the surveillance room.

* * *

**Author's Note:** For all of you who haven't seen the classic series, the mention I made to the Sea Devils was a reference to a 3rd Doctor story, including the Master and a group of amphibious creatures, known as Sea Devils. In that story, the Master was imprisoned by the humans, having been captured in the previous episode. He managed to escape with the help of the Sea Devils, and tried to take revenge on the humans for imprisoning him.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Review? :D


	6. Remember

The sound of the hoof beats in Martha's ears had changed a few metres ago. There was now the sound of boots following her. She would have looked back, to gather as much information about her adversary as possible, but the amount of brambles and sticks lying haphazardly in her path was ridiculous. Worst of all, she was running _away_ from the three men she has seen before.

A bolt of energy shot past her head. It hit a nearby tree, sending a spray of wood into the air. Martha dodged to the left, throwing herself through a bush onto another path beyond it. Thankfully, the bush had been without thorns and, although her hairstyle was pretty much destroyed, she was unscratched.

There was a shout from behind her, as whatever was following her attempted to get through the bush. It didn't sound as if it was having as much luck.

Gasping for breath, Martha ducked behind a tree, leaning against the trunk, trying to get her breathing back to normal. She dropped her backpack to the ground, fumbling through it until she found her gun. She checked it was loaded and clicked the safety off. As always, when she was in a situation that required a gun, she thought about what the Doctor would say.

Something along the lines of, "Don't you dare!" seemed a good bet. But he wasn't here, Martha told herself. The Doctor was flying across the stars, and he wasn't _here_. There was no knight in shining armour to save her, so she would have to become her own knight.

She dropped out from behind the tree, rolling, coming up to her knees, and fired, all in one movement.

* * *

The Doctor tramped through yet another field. He'd left the partially clear pathways behind some time ago, and was now moving through muddy field after muddy field, that obviously hadn't seen any humanoids for a good few years. The grass was long, sticking up in tufts, and the Doctor was honestly worried about snakes. In his current weakened state, he probably wouldn't survive a bite, even if there was only a small amount of venom. And wasting a regeneration _wasn't _something he was about to do, thank you very much.

He sighed. This would have been so much easier if the humans had just left him where they found him. Whether it was curiosity or genuine care that made them carry him off, it made no difference to him right now. If they had left him, he would be in the TARDIS right now.

There was a sound of mooing off to his left. He glanced up, taking in the forest. Probably a cow who'd wandered away from the field on the other side of the wood. It definitely didn't come from this field, thought the Doctor, as he continued to walk along the edge of the forest. There wasn't a cow pat in sight!

The long coat he was wearing was really weighing him down, making sweat run down his back because of the sun. He shrugged it off, and was about to lay it over his arm when he stopped. He examined the coat, thinking deeply, before leaving it on the ground and walking on.

Old life, he thought. I don't want to remember.

* * *

Gwen swore unintelligibly as the door bell rang. Rolling over, she looked at the clock on the bedside table, and swore again. Who the hell visits at 2:45am? She rolled back into bed, with the aim of telling Rhys to answer the door, but he was still snoring soundly. Sighing, she levered herself out of bed. She was still getting intermittent pains her in back from giving birth.

Then the baby began to cry.

Gwen sat on the edge of the bed for several seconds, feeling like crying herself. She was perfectly entitled to _one_ good night's sleep, wasn't she?

She turned back to the bed, and poked Rhys in the ribs.

"Wha--?" He opened bleary eyes. "I'll do it, love. No problem." He paused. "Why you getting up?"

"Door," she answered shortly.

Crossing through the living room, she noticed the plates from last night's dinner piled up in the sink. And the ones from the night before that. She sighed again.

Even the sight of Jack as she pulled open the front door did nothing for her mood. "What?"

Jack, however, didn't seem fazed by her curtness. Of course, she thought, he never is. "Are you all right?"

Gwen took a deep breath. "Why wouldn't I be?" Just looking at Jack's half guilty, half angry face, she knew. "He's escaped?" She turned back to her flat, gesturing that Jack should come in.

He seemed a little put out that she wasn't more worried but, he reasoned, she had never experienced what the Master could do first hand, so how was she to know? "Yeah. I need you three to come with me now."

"We're not going anywhere!" Rhys appeared at the door to the bedroom, a baby cradled in his arms.

Typical Rhys, Jack thought. "Yes." He nodded. "Just jump right in. Don't bother to ask why I turn up in the middle of the night to rescue you. Just stay here and be killed."

Rhys paled, clutching the baby closer to him. "Killed?" He turned Gwen. "Gwen, love, what's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Rhys."

"You have nothing to apologise for," Jack interjected.

"Yes, I do. It's my fault that Rhys is in this." She crossed the room, laying a hand on Rhys's arm. "We're going to have to leave for a few days, okay?"

"What's happened?"

"Gwen," Jack warned. "He can't know."

Rhys looked like he was about to explode, but Gwen quietened him. "There's this alien, yeah?" She glanced at Jack, looking worried. "He was a prisoner of UNIT, but he's escaped. He may want to kill us."

"Why can't we stay here?" Rhys looked at Jack. "The alien doesn't know where we live, does it?"

Jack felt, not for the first time, sorry for all the humans who had this level of naivety. "He'll find you. He doesn't need to know where you live to hurt you. Trust me."

Rhys glanced at Gwen, who nodded reassuringly. "I'll pack." She disappeared into the bedroom.

Jack smiled at Rhys, crossing the room and looking at the child in his arms. "She's beautiful."

"Thanks." The statement didn't reach Rhys's eyes. "I swear Jack. If anything happens to Gwen or--"

"It won't," Jack interrupted. "I'd die for any of you. You know that."

Rhys narrowed his eyes. "If anything happens," he continued. "There won't be a place on Earth where you can hide."

* * *

The creature in front of Martha roared. "Ow!"

She had punctured whatever kind of armour it was wearing, and she could see a thick, black, paste-like substance spreading from the wound in its left shoulder.

It raised its head, fixing her with a deeply malevolent stare. "Stupid female." Its voice was the same one the cow had had, and Martha found that deeply disconcerting.

Even worse was when it raised its gun to point at her head and smiled. "Cornered."

She dived to the left and, much to her embarrassment, screamed, as another bolt of energy cut through the air. This time it buried itself in another bush, except this one _did_ have thorns in it. She covered her face as they rained down, and felt several cut into her back.

Looking up again, she could see several had buried themselves in the creature's uniform, but none had penetrated. It was looking at her with contempt. The armour it was wearing was plain black, which shined, even though the sun couldn't reach it here beneath the trees. The gun it was holding was long, sleek, and silver, and seemed to be a part of its hand. Its face was the only part uncovered. It was flat and pug like, pale almost to the point of ridiculousness. Its eyes were bright red and tiny, sending out two pin-pricks of light, which rested on her head.

"You have no honour," it stated. "Face your capture like a warrior or I shall end this here."

Martha took a deep breath. "You're not going to kill me." She shook her head. "You need me. Or you would have pulled that trigger already."

The alien seemed to blink, though the red eyes never vanished. "Get up."

Marta did as she was told, rising slowly, making sure that the alien's gun was focused on the ground, before bringing up her own. "Drop it… if… you can?"

The alien gave a long suffering sigh, and put its hands on its hips. The combination of alien terror and something that her mother would always do to her father when they were arguing made Martha want to laugh, but she kept her gun arm steady, and repeated herself. "Drop it."

Another sigh met her words. "I can't," said the alien, shaking its gun arm at her. "And anyway, the… what's the word you use? Materials? Yes. The materials in my suit will already have analysed your primitive projectile device, and will have initiated a strengthening and adaptation process." It spread its arms. "Try me."

Martha fired. Now, at the range she was at, the bullet should have entered the ribcage of the alien, punctured the heart, if that was where the heart was, and nestled beneath the collar bone. A kill shot. As it happened though, the alien had been telling the truth, which Martha really hated, and the bullet seemed to disappear.

"Now." The alien clapped its hands. "That really wasn't much of a hunt. Do you want to start running again, or should we just get it over with?" It spoke as if this was a perfectly normal conversation to be had in the middle of a forest.

All was silent for a long moment; the alien and Martha attempting to stare each other down. Then a bird calls out somewhere in the distance, and the moment's gone. The alien takes a step forward, its gun arm beginning to rise.

She waits until the last possible moment, and even then, she thinks she's left it too late. The gun is on her; she can see the energy bolt building within. The two tiny red dots of eyes are fixed on hers, and the moment begins again. Everything stills, unbroken, perfect.

When it breaks, Martha knows what she has to do. She remembers her training, the lectures, everything.

So, as the energy blot shoots out of the alien's gun, Martha drops to her knees and rolls forward. She feels the bolt travel past her hair, and smells burning. The next second she's on her feet once again, right in front of the alien, plunging the cold, sharp tip of the knife hidden in her hand right between its eyes.


	7. Two Paths

The alien shoves her away, hissing angrily. It's hands, one gun and one normal, come up to its face and desperately scrabble at the knife, embedded deep in the flesh of its forehead. It moves in vain though and can't get the knife out. It would probably kill it quicker if it did, Martha reasons.

She's lying on the leafy forest floor, and scoots backwards as the alien lurches forward. It must know it's about to die, and just wants to take her with it.

Martha rolls away from its outstretched hand, getting swiftly to her feet. The alien has frozen place, arm reaching towards where she was a second ago. As if a switch is thrown, it suddenly topples forward, landing hard on the dirt.

Martha breathes a sigh of relief, crossing to the alien and prodding it a few times for good measure. It doesn't move.

She begins to limp over to the tree where she left her backpack, pulling thorns out of her back as she goes. One is embedded especially deep, and she winces as she pulls it free.

Why did some alien have to hunt _her_, she thinks crossly? Though that was a very good question actually. Who was the alien? Why was it waiting for her? What did it want? Martha sighed, wishing for not the first time since going freelance that she had the Doctor watching her back. He would know what to do, he always did.

Just before she reaches the tree, there's a sharp crack from behind her, then the sound of running water. She turns around slowly, well aware that her knife is still buried in the alien, and her gun is nowhere to be seen.

Where the alien had been a few seconds ago, there was now merely a pool of the dark, viscous liquid that it had bled before. As she watches it begins to slowly disappear, vanishing into the ground.

"Can this get any weirder?"

The only answer she gets is a few more birds taking flight. She sighs again, turning back to the tree where she left her back. Coming round the side, the spot where she was sure she had left it is taken up by another tree. Martha frowns, seeing her backpack a few metres away.

Shaking her head, she crosses to it. She was sure there hadn't been two trees there when she'd hid there, but she _had _been a little preoccupied with trying to stay alive.

The cow/alien thing had said something about 'delivering the full package'. That probably means it was hunting something. Maybe the alien that had Jack all worried? She doubts it somehow though. It had been waiting for _her_.

She still hasn't quite got around the fact that a cow had talked to her, even though she now knows it to be an alien. It's funny, she thinks, at how I can be surrounded by every alien under the sun, and still be surprised when one of them camouflages itself to blend in with the local surroundings.

Martha suddenly stops, her backpack half way onto her shoulder, a nasty thought crossing her mind. The cow/alien thing had been hiding itself, making sure she hadn't known it was a threat until it was too late. It had camouflaged itself to fit in with what she was expecting to see. Only she had been surprised to see the cow, seeing as it was only one in the entire field. So it had been something that was hidden in plain sight, which she had expected, but didn't wonder about when surprised by it.

With a bad taste in her mouth, Martha turns back to the trees she had hidden behind before. Only there was now only one tree there. The second one, that she had dismissed as being perfectly normal because she was in a forest, was gone.

Looking around, she sees how hopeless trying to find it would be. She's surrounded by trees. If the alien doesn't show itself, she doesn't have a hope in hell of finding it.

Turning a full circle, she wonders which way is the safe way to go. When your enemy is a tree, and you're in the middle of a forest, you're well and truly stuffed.

"Ahem."

A cold sense of dread settles in her stomach as she turns. The tree is standing a few metres away, waving a branch at her. Martha feels like crying. Why her?

The tree hops forward. "Good day," it says. "I wonder if you could help me? I'm the backup guard. I watched your little… exchange with poor, old Rikol, and I can't help but wonder if _you're_ the alien I'm looking for." It seems to nod. "In disguise of course," it adds helpfully."

"I'm not an alien." Martha shakes her head, edging slowly to her left.

"Well," it continues. "To _you_, of course you're not. But to the other billions species in the universe, you're very much an alien. I mean…" It shudders. "You have _two_ eyes. How can you possibly see anything?"

Martha blinks self consciously.

"Now," says the tree, taking another hop forward. "This will be utterly painless. I just need to get inside your head and see if you're the one we want. If you say you're not, then you have nothing to worry about." A tendril begins to snake out from the centre of the tree. "Now," it persists. "Keep still."

Martha feels like laughing. Does the alien honestly think she's going to stand still and be… mauled by a tentacle?

She shakes her head again. "Somehow," she grins. "I don't think you're going to be very fast in that form." She gives a little wave as she ducks behind another tree, and starts off running again.

* * *

"Right." Jack claped his hands together. "These are the rooms. You've got one bedroom, a bathroom, etc, etc. Should be fine!"

Rhys and Gwen stood in the doorway, staring. "It's tiny," Rhys managed finally.

Jack looked crestfallen. "These are the only room we have in the hub."

Gwen decides against mentioning Jack's bedroom, and entered the room slowly. "What about the baby?"

Jack nodded towards a cradle in the corner. "There."

"I meant baby-changing."

"Oh." Jack pointed towards the doorway. "Two doors down on the…" He thinks for a moment. "Right… I think." He watched for a moment as Rhys, carrying the baby, entered the room. For a lack of anything better to say he continued, "They're great. Actually better than the ones you use at home. I've used them myself."

Gwen stopped and stared. "What?"

Jack stopped for a moment. Does she know about Alice and Steven? Man, it's hard keeping up with the secrets. Falling back on what he knows best, he grinned. "You don't wanna know."

Rhys rolled his eyes, about to say something, when Jack's phone rang. "'scuse me." He ginned again.

When he had made his way back up to the hub, and made sure neither of them are following him, he took out his phone and flipped it open. "Yeah?"

"It's me," the Brigadier's clear, clipped tones came from the phone. "Have you taken care of what you wanted to do?"

Jack glanced back at the corridor leading to Gwen and Rhys's room. "Yeah."

"Good. We need to back in London. We've picked up some strange energy signatures."

Jack was already moving towards the cog door. "Do you think it could be the Master?" He paused at Gwen's desk, jotting down a quick message.

_Gwen,_

_Gone to UNIT. You know my number if anything goes wrong. Don't leave the hub._

_Jack_

After a moment he adds:

_Baby milk is in the fridge._

Before leaving the hub.

"Could be," the Brigadier answered. "How long will you be?"

"Four hours, max."

* * *

A rustling in the bushes makes a blackbird hiding there take flight. It swoops up into the air, circles for a moment, and then seems to decide that the danger of going back doesn't match up to its lost breakfast, and flies away.

The bushes continue to rustle, finally producing a humanoid man. He stands and stretches, eyes fixed on the sun, blazing quietly above him. The mud path he's standing on is neighbour to a grassy field, and he casually runs his hand through the long, green strands, enjoying the feel of them.

He pauses for a moment, taking a deep sniff of the air, and then sets off, heading down the path, with the wood to his left and the field to his right.

He finds himself searching for tracks in the mud, but there are so many he can't distinguish between them. There are tracks of man, cow, sheep, probably every farmyard animal under the sun.

He's only been walking for a few minutes when he stops, seeing something lying on the ground a few metres away. Walking over to it slowly, he crouches down, careful not to get mud on his trousers.

A smirk appears on his lips, his eyes taking in everything there is to know about the object. Really, he thinks? Really?

He smiles, properly this time, though there is still a hint of smugness to it, and rises, picking the discarded brown coat up from the floor, and slipping it on.


	8. Everything Died

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the wait. Again, I updated "Returning To The Start" twice, because this chapter was refusing to be written, and my Jack-muse was misbehaving. Blame it on him. XD

* * *

Martha ducked beneath another tentacle. It swept past her head, missing by inches, and buried itself in a tree. The trunk cracked with the strain. That wouldn't have hurt, thought Martha incredulously?

"Stay still!" the tree cried, sounding extremely frustrated.

"No!" Martha answered, ducking behind the cracked tree. It seemed that, despite the fact that it was a tree, this alien could move pretty fast. She wondered if she could climb a tree, but with those tentacles, she wouldn't think that would be too much of a challenge.

She could see a sliver of light emanating from the trees up ahead. It looked like they were coming to another field. Hopefully this one would be without cow/alien things. With a bit of luck, this alien wouldn't be able to make it through the long grass, and she could get away. She cursed the fact that she didn't carry a backup gun.

The trees thin out, before stopping completely. She can see the sky finally. She must have been in the forest longer than she originally thought. The sun is going down, the light fading at a steady pace. Even though that would help her hide from the alien, it would also make it impossible to _see_ the alien.

She glances back over her shoulder, and sees the alien tree moving past the tree line, and into the field. It doesn't seem to be slowed by the grass at all; it's more gliding over it, oblivious. Martha lets out a sob, pushing herself faster and faster. There's no way she's going out like this, not with all the things she's never said to Mickey, not with the whole universe waiting for her.

That's when she sees it. The most beautiful sight in the world. It's hope, and love, and freedom, wrapped up and delivered right to her door, handed to her in a grimy back alley on her birthday, and taken away only when she chose it: the TARDIS.

She doubles her pace, forcing her legs to keep going. Another tentacle wraps around her hair, but she manages to tug free and continues to run on.

As she reaches the TARDIS, she notices that it's on its side. Probably the Doctor's new method of parking, she thinks. Hauling herself up the side, she begins to hammer on the doors.

"Doctor! Doctor, let me in!"

There's no response from within the machine, and Martha suddenly has a horrible thought that maybe the Doctor is away at the moment.

She bangs harder, as the tree comes closer. "Doctor?"

Just as the first tentacle is reaching towards her, she hears something echoing through her mind. *Martha, my child. What is it that you want?*

Martha pauses for a moment, ducking beneath the tentacle. The Doctor had talked about the TARDIS being not just a machine, but also a living being. Was it... talking to her?

"Let me in!" She kicked out, sending the tree back a few paces.

*Why?*

Martha almost screams with frustration. "There's an alien tree and it wants to eat me!"

*A good enough reason as any* says the TARDIS solemnly. The doors fall open, and snap closed behind her. Martha surrenders herself to the wave or relief, and the unconsciousness that follows.

* * *

Jack entered UNIT HQ three and a half hours after he had left Torchwood. He was in a foul mood. The traffic had been perfect; just one long, unending road of nothing to do but think of what would happen if the Master got his hands on Gwen and Rhys' child. He shuddered. It wasn't even bearable thinking about it.

Because of his foul mood, he hardly glanced at the soldier watching over the front desk, instead marching right through the double set of doors to the left, which would lead him to the Brigadier's office.

"Hold it right there!"

The soldier had followed him, obviously under orders not to let anyone pass. Jack ignored him. So what if the soldier shot him? Like it would matter.

"I said 'hold it right there'!"

A bullet smashed into the floor an inch from Jack's foot, and he whirled around, kicking out at the soldier. His foot connected with the man's stomach, who folded to the floor with a groan, and Jack found himself thinking how weak the soldiers of today were. When he fought in World War II, they had been strong, and one kick wouldn't have dropped them.

"If you're quite finished?"

Jack turned to see the Brigadier standing in the doorway to his office, face torn between amusement and anger.

Jack shrugged, walking past the Brigadier. "He's gonna need a medic."

The Brigadier sighed, leaving his office to check on his injured soldier. Jack lent against the desk, and waited. He was tempted to phone the hub and check whether Gwen was all right, but it was 11pm now, and he didn't really think that she and Rhys would appreciate being woken up.

Sighing, he took out his phone and again tried to call the Doctor. Again, there was no reply. He thumped it into the desk before returning it to his pocket. Why couldn't the idiot Master just stay dead? It was so much better that way.

He jumped slightly as the phone sitting on the Brigadier's desk rang sharply. It only took him a second to decide whether or not to answer it. It could be news.

"Hello?"

"Hmm," came the reply. "Was expecting the dear Brigadier."

Jack stiffened as the unmistakable sound of the Master's voice washed through the phone's speaker. "What do you want?"

The Master laughed. "Well... to tell you the truth... I'm bored. Been walking for _ages_ now, and it's all dark. Can't see my hand in front of my face."

"Aw, poor you," Jack crooned. "Are you scared of the dark?"

There was a short silence, then, "You should be too."

Jack narrowed his eyes. "Just tell me where you are, so I can come kill you."

The Master continued like he hadn't heard him. "The dark, Jack." It was the first time he had ever called him Jack, and it made Jack feel uneasy, like it wasn't really the Master talking. "It was _so_ dark... and I called for help, but no one came. Everyone's dead. Everything died... Oh..."

Jack swallowed. "What do you mean by 'the dark'?"

But as soon as the fear had arrived in the Master's voice, it had left, and he was laughing. "Say my name and I might tell you."

Jack slammed the phone down, cutting the connection. There was no way the Master would have left a traceable line, but at least he could try.

He picked up the phone again, and dialled the hub. Gwen would be able to try to trace it. As he listened to the hypnotic ringing, that Master's words echoed in his head.

"_It was _so_ dark... Everyone's dead. Everything died."_

* * *

The Doctor shivered. Maybe leaving his coat behind hadn't been the brightest idea. The temperature was dropping rapidly and, in his weakened state, he needed to find a source of warmth soon. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to shrink into the over-sized suit. He really needed to get a new outfit. He wondered what this regeneration would like. Somehow he thinks that suits are out. He's done the suit thing, and he's had enough of that big coat flapping at his heels and tripping him up when he runs.

Yawning widely, he doesn't hear the leaves crunching underfoot from behind him. They follow him for a good forty paces, then quicken. By the time he hears them, they're right behind him.

He feels something cold pressed into his neck. He recognises it as a gun, and raises his hands into the air, in a gesture of surrender. The person with the gun clamps a hand down on his shoulder, squeezing it painfully, before pulling him round.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry that the last scene is so short. I was contemplating continuing the chapter and telling you what was happening, but that would have denied my wonderful readers a cliff-hanger, and I couldn't have that! XD


	9. Planning? Nah!

**Author's Note: **Sorry I didn't update either of my stories yesterday, but I was busy being quite sick. Hopefully I'm better now, and can continue doing daily updates. :)

* * *

Rhys was just drifting off to sleep when a loud ringing echoed through the hub. Getting up slowly, he padded towards the stairs, praying that the baby would remain asleep.

Rising out of a brick corridor, is really did feel as if he was stepping forward in time. He left the pipes and masonry behind, and entered a technological world, with computers and the water tower. He suddenly felt very small.

Crossing to one of the desks, he saw a note, written in Jack's handwriting.

_Gwen_

_Gone to UNIT. Do not contact me._

_Jack_

Rhys sighed, shaking his head, and threw the note into the waste paper basket. Picking up the phone, he delivered a gruff "hello", and waited for a reply.

"Hey, mate." The voice on the other end of the phone sounded young and carefree. Rhys envied him. "I'm up top in the Tourist Office. Pizza for..." A pause. "Someone called Torchwood?"

Rhys sighed again. Probably Jack's idea of a joke, he thought. It wasn't this guy's fault though. "I'll be right up. How much?"

"Um... 20 quid. Thanks, mate."

Rhys hung up, digging through his trouser pocket for some money, and began to make his way towards the cog door.

* * *

The Brigadier walked back to his office, and almost collided with Jack coming out of it. "Where are you going?"

"Back to Cardiff."

"Cardiff? You just got here." He caught Jack's arm. "Explain."

"I just got a phone call from the Master. And now the hub's phone is disconnected."

The Brigadier shook his head. "Torchwood can take care of themselves. Right now, I need you here."

"Gwen and Rhys... they have a child. Do you have any idea of what the Master will do to a baby if he gets his hands on her?"

"And Rhys can look after them." The Brigadier swallowed, not sure how bright this next sentence was to say out loud. "She's not your child. They need to take care of their own."

Jack narrowed his eyes. "They're my responsibility."

"No," the Brigadier stated. "Earth is your responsibility."

"And what if the Master's there? I can catch him!"

"And what is he's not?"

Jack pulled himself free. "Then at least I can tell myself I protected them."

"It is not your job to protect them, Harkness. You will remain here. That is an order."

Jack was just about to say where the Brigadier could put his orders. Before he could, however, the lights went out, and the screaming began.

* * *

The next thing the Doctor knows, a fist has smashed into his face, and he's on the ground. Glancing up, he can see there's one man standing in front of him. He can't see the man's face though. The Doctor internally shakes his head. What a time to get mugged!

"Look, mate." He spreads his hands again. "I don't have anything worth stealing."

A gruff laugh reaches his ears. "I'm not robbing you." A pause. "Stand up."

The Doctor pulls himself up carefully, massaging his cheek. Another person appears behind the first. This one is carrying a torch and the Doctor blinks in the sudden light.

The man with the gun turns to the person with the torch. "What now?"

"How the hell should I know?" the torch-person snaps back.

"Well, you told me to do this. If you can't think of a good enough reason now, it's not my problem."

"You've got the gun!"

"Um..." The Doctor smiles slightly. "If I may... interrupt?" There were no objections, so he continued. "Who are you exactly?"

The man with the gun sighs, lowering the gun slightly, making a grab for the torch, which he turns on him and his companion. The Doctor can now see that the person who has joined them is the woman who had run away from him in the cottage. He doesn't know the man.

"Hallo!" He grins at her. She moves behind the man, who raises the gun again. "Really..." He holds up his hands. "I'm not a threat. I'm not even armed." He pauses for a moment, thinking. "I left my water gun back in my coat."

The man and woman glance at each other, obviously thinking 'he's insane'. The Doctor sighs, before a light bulb goes on in his head. He wouldn't usually do this, but he's cold, and tired, and hungry, and it's not like it's going to hurt anyone, is it?

"You see..." He bends over, holding his stomach in mock pain, wincing. "I was mugged once already today." He looks at the woman. "I'm sorry if I scared you earlier. I woke up in a strange place. I didn't know who you were."

The woman's features soften. "It's all right, love."

The man glances at the woman and back to the Doctor, his gun lowering to point at the ground. "We should call the police."

"That's probably not going to work," says the Doctor, reaching into his trouser pocket. He pulls out the physic paper, which he took out of his coat before leaving it behind. Some things are worth keeping, he thinks, before handing it over. "I'm an undercover military officer. The police can't know I'm here."

The man glances at the woman, then down at the physic paper. He narrows his eyes. "How do we know this is genuine?"

The Doctor blinks. "It has the military seal on it."

The man folds the wallet and hands it back to the Doctor, who notices he's still got a tight grip on the gun. "Do you know who attacked you?"

"Well..." The Doctor thought of the Master, Wilf, the Time Lords, the Vinvocci, the gun. "No," he finished.

"What did they take?"

"My coat for one. And I had a load of stuff in that." The Doctor blinks. "Tell me... when you found me before, because I assume it was you who found me," he indicated the man. "Was there a blue box?"

"Yeah." The man nods. "But why do you have a police box if you're with the army?"

The Doctor stops, his mouth slightly open, mind working at a hundred miles an hour, but not really getting anywhere. He bites his lip.

"Wow," a voice emanates out of the trees. "You don't even think your plans through, do you?"

* * *

**Author's Note: **There ya go, my readers! Three cliff-hangers, one for each scene. Don't you all feel loved! XD


	10. Hiding In Plain Sight

**Author's Note: **First off, I just have to apologise to everyone for not updating in so long. As those of you who are reading my other Doctor Who story, "Returning To The Start", will know, at the end of Janruary I tore the ligaments in my left shoulder. Because of that, I haven't been able to type as normal.

Thankfully, I'm fine now, and hopefully the updates will start flowing again. I hope I haven't lost any readers because of this. :)

Secondly, I would like to thank **Paisley Skies**, for betaring this chapter. She's been great. ^.^

Hope everyone enjoys thie chapter.

* * *

"Just stay calm!" Jack might as well have been shouting at thin air. He and the Brigadier were pressed against the wall of the corridor, held there by the swarms of people moving out of their offices.

"You will remain calm! That is an order!" The Brigadier's shouts had the same lack of effect.

"Oh, for god's sake!" Jack roared, pushing himself through the crowds of people. "You're UNIT soldiers! What the hell are you doing?" He was once again ignored, and grabbed at a passing woman in combat gear. "What's happened?"

Her lack of movement seemed to bring the soldier back to earth, and she snapped to attention. "Sir! There's something in the bunker. It's killing the scientists."

The Brigadier fought his way over to them. "Then why are you running in the opposite direction, lieutenant? You are meant to be guarding them."

"But it's an animal, sir!" As the woman continued to speak, Jack shoved her aside, pushing his way through the crowds.

He heard the Brigadier shout "left" at him and moved through a set of double doors. He was faced with a quickly emptying staircase, leading downwards. A bloodied man in a white coat was the last one on the staircase. Jack grabbed his wrist, visually checking over the man's head wound. It wasn't that serious.

"Do you know what did this?"

"It..." The man swallowed. "It was alien."

Jack sighed. "Yeah, I got _that_. What did it look like?"

"I..." The man began to cry. Half of Jack felt sorry for him, the other half felt like hitting him. The bad half won, and he shoved the man out through the door, starting down the stairs, drawing his revolver as he went.

The stairs circled around themselves in a square, which made it almost impossible to see if anyone was coming the other way.

Why couldn't all the aliens who wanted to cause Earth harm just wait until he'd found and killed the Master? Was that _really_ too much to ask?

He heard a deep growl echo up to him and crouched down, craning his neck over the stairway railing, trying to see down into the lab. The lights still hadn't come back on, and an eerie red glow from the emergency lighting spread the lab out below him.

Gun still at the ready, Jack moved down the last few steps, arriving on a metal grill platform. A short ladder led down to the main lab area, filled with large and complicated looking machinery. A doorway to his right led to what looked like a locker room, but the only other exit was the way he had come. Whatever had attacked the scientists was still here.

He could hear the Brigadier moving people out of the building above him as he slowly made his way down the ladder. As he reached the bottom, his hand brushed against the bottom rung, and came away sticky. Jack grimaced, wiping the blood off on his coat.

Now that he was at the same level as the lab, he could see two men lying beneath a work bench. One was quite obviously dead. The other was shaking with fear, a hand clasped roughly around the dead man's wrist.

"Hey," Jack whispered. "Come on."

The living man shook his head wildly from side to side. "Not leaving without Ricky. He's got to wake up."

Jack moved slowly across the floor, keeping one eye on the two men, the other on the room around them. Crouching down next to the bench they were hidden under, he glanced at the name tag of the living man. "Come on... Dr. Merdol. Ricky's dead. You've got to get out of here."

"No!" Jack shushed him quickly, as Dr. Merdol moved to pull Ricky away from him. "No. He's not dead. He can't be dead." He started rocking back and forth on his heels, crying.

Jack sighed, standing up. There was no way he would be able to move the man without alerting whatever was down here to their presence. Might as well get whatever it was, then worry about comforting the scientist.

Moving around the bench, he moved so he had his back to it, facing the lab. He had only taken one step, however, when the sound of splintering wood came from behind him, and the realisation dawned that whatever it was had just got to the two scientists. But where had it been hiding, Jack thought? He whipped round, only to be met with the bench flying towards him. Unable to get out of the way in time, it hit him full on, sending him cart wheeling backwards across the lab and into a display case, shattering the glass.

The thing that had thrown the bench reared up and roared. When it saw that Jack was unmoving, it dropped its two front legs back down to the floor. Shrugging out of the white lab coat draped over its shoulders, it padded towards him, stepping first on Ricky, and then the name tag that had fallen off of the coat that it had just discarded, which read Dr. Merdol.

* * *

Rhys walked up the steps towards the Tourist office, having completely failed to figure out how to work the lift. He was tired and his head hurt. He just wanted everything to sort itself out so he could take Gwen and their baby home. He had been working up the courage for months to ask her about quitting Torchwood. Anything that could put their baby in danger wasn't worth doing. He'd had a whole speech planned, but every time Gwen had come in from hunting an alien, or having a drink with Jack, she had seemed happier, more full of life.

He didn't understand her love of this life, the need for the chase. Why couldn't she simply go back to her job with the police?

He reached the top of the stairs, and stepped out into the rock covered corridor, which ran the length of the Bay. As he reached the door that led out to the Tourist office, he heard a voice from beyond it. Pausing to retrieve a worn twenty pound note from his jean's pocket, he picked up small snippets of the pizza delivery boy's conversation.

"Yeah, I'm............. the package is......... right now. Yes............... sir, I................."

Rhys frowned. Was it normal for a delivery boy to phone his boss and tell him he'd got to the right place? It had been so long since he'd ordered pizza he couldn't remember.

He pushed open the rock door just as the boy on the other side put the phone down, who then turned towards him. "Hey, mate." The boy smiled. He was holding a signal pizza box, which Rhys thought was strange, seeing as the boy had asked for £20.

"Hi," he replied, internally grimacing as he thought for the first time about his grubby pyjamas.

The boy nodded at him, setting the pizza down on the desk, reaching out to take Rhys's money. "I'm sorry 'bout this," he drawled.

Rhys was only half through processing the sentence when the boy shot forward, impossibly fast, and curled a hand around his neck. Rhys automatically threw a fist, but his hand bounced uselessly off the boy's face, which began to ripple. The skin slid back, revealing the red muscles and veins. Rhys tried to pull himself away, a look of revulsion coming over his face, but the boy was strong, and held on.

The muscles began to move, becoming shiny, but not with blood. They were unknotting, twisting into a smoother surface.

When they stopped, the boy had plates of red armour covering his entire body, still shining. It's free hand had morphed into a blade, long and deadly looking. Two small black dots stared out at Rhys from beneath the red helmet.

"You will tell me of the alien," the boy's voice had changed, and was now deeper and more dangerous.

Rhys tried to pull back again, but failed. "What alien?"

The boy tightened his hold. "The alien that owns my quarry."

Rhys coughed, nails digging into the boy's hand in a vain attempt to get him to release his throat. "What... alien?"

The boy frowned, eyes narrowing, before raising the hand with the knife coming out of it, slowly moving it towards Rhys's head. "This won't hurt..." The boy grinned. "Much."

* * *

The Doctor turned towards the tree line, where the voice came from. The woman pointed the torch towards the trees, while the man did the same with the gun.

"Whoever you are... come on out," the man with the gun said.

"Oh, yeah!" The voice from the trees dripped with sarcasm. "I'll just come out with my hands up, shall I?" There was a pause. "Actually... that might give a good chance for 'reaction of the year' to take place."

There was a rustle of branches, and another man suddenly appeared on the path.

The Doctor felt his breath catch in his throat as he recognise not only his coat, that the man was wearing, but the man himself, hair still dyed blonde, hoody still drawn tightly across his chest. "Master." The Doctor's voice barely carried to the three people standing with him.

The man and women glanced at each other, uncertain, while the Master grinned. "Tada!" He spread his arms wide.

The Doctor, having only recently regenerated, couldn't seem to make sense of what was happening. His eyes were telling him that the Master was standing in front of him, but his brain was telling him that it wasn't possible. It was all very confusing.

The Master's grin remained. "Found ya."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. The Doctor, seeing the only other of his kind in existence, not only come back to life once, but twice, over a twenty-four hour period, die once, plus his own regeneration, was all too much for him. In the circumstances, he did the only thing that seemed logical.

He dropped his physic paper, burst into tears, propelled himself across the forest floor straight into the Master's arms, and clung to him.


	11. What Are We?

**Author's Note: **I had quite a bit of trouble working out how the Master would react and how best it would sound, so please tell me what you think. :)

Thank you to both **AnGeL oF mAdNeSs** and **madasmonty**, who were my willing bounce boards for ideas for this chapter. They are now both considerably flatter, but you all have another chapter to read. XD

And! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. We just broke the 100 review mark! :D

**01/03/10 - **Now beta-ed by **Paisley Skies**. Thanks, girl!

* * *

The Master smirked, staring down at the Time Lord who had his head buried in the Master's chest. His arms had automatically curled around the Doctor, and he now removed one, patting the Doctor's back as the sobs continued. Rolling his eyes at the man and women who were still pointing the gun and torch at him, he spoke. "Never mind him." He nodded wisely. "He has issues."

The Doctor finally pulled back, his hands still resting on the Master's arms, and sniffed loudly. He was staring at the Master intensely, which the Master really didn't like.

The Master coughed loudly. "Regenerated, huh?" He shook his head. "What? Was me getting rid of your Time Lord problem not good enough?"

This, apparently, was the wrong thing to say, as the Doctor resumed his distraught sobs. "Master... you've always... been..." He hiccupped loudly, and buried his face in the Master's shoulder.

The Master, as nice as it was having the Doctor at his mercy, was fast losing patience. "What are we? Sworn enemies or cuddle buddies?"

The tears suddenly stopped, and the Doctor pulled his head back, as if he'd just figured out what he was doing. He frowned, which simply confused the Master. "You're... you're... you're..."

"What?!" the Master almost shouted, and found it strangely not as comforting as it should have been when the Doctor flinched.

"You're... actually... actually..." The Doctor reached out a hand and prodded the Master's chest. He blinked. "I didn't fall through you."

"You know..." The Master shook his head. He would have put his hands on his hips, but they were still full of crying Time Lord. "Why you could never learn to properly control your regenerations is anyone's guess. It would have been a lot easier to not go loopy afterwards, don't you think?"

The Doctor stared at him, as if he was trying to figure out the Master's words. He then frowned. "You're not dead."

The Master took a deep breath, as that was the only thing stopping him shoving the Doctor into the mud right now. He would have counted to ten but, with past experience, he found the Doctor would often disappear while he was doing that.

"Not last time I checked," he said slowly. "You should know me well enough by now, Doctor... to know that _nothing_ can kill me."

The Doctor scoffed, which annoyed the Master greatly. A little respect couldn't hurt, surely?

But then the Doctor's eyes slightly widened. It honestly looked like the Doctor was scared of him. The Master gave a predatory grin as the Doctor tried to pull away. Man, was he great when he'd just regenerated or what, thought the Master?

The Doctor stopped struggling, eyeing the Master warily. "Prove you're really here."

"Oh, Doctor," the Master chuckled. "There are _so_ many ways I could do that." He put on a thoughtful face. "Don't think you'd approve of most of them though."

He laughed as the Doctor finally managed to pull away, watching as he stumbled backwards, only just managing not fall. This new body of his was definitely different, thought the Master. Just as skinny, but shorter, with longer hair that curled around the base of his neck. He didn't seem comfortable in the oversized suit either.

"You need a haircut," the Master commented.

The Doctor frowned darkly, hands coming up to his neck. "Don't insult my hair."

The Master tutted loudly, sparing a glance at the two humans, still frozen in place. Pathetic, he thought. "Shall we?" He motioned down the path. "Your TARDIS is that way." The Doctor watched him warily as the Master slid out of the Doctor's coat. "Do you want this?"

The Doctor was so confused, that he nodded, taking the coat from the Master and draping it over his left arm before he'd even thought about it.

"Good." The Master set off down the path. The Doctor, after giving a reassuring wave to the man and women, the names of whom he still did not know, followed.

* * *

Martha came round slowly, the TARIDS console room gradually coming into focus. It looked flat and 2D looking, and the colours were too bright. She closed her eyes again and groaned. As soon as she had made the noise, the TARDIS's voice echoed through her head once again.

*Martha, my child. Why did you come here?*

"I..." Martha rubbed her head, still feeling groggy. "Jack wanted something..."

*The Captain?*

"Yeah." She pulled herself carefully to her feet, leaning heavily on the guard rail. "Has it gone?"

There was a brief pause.

*Affirmative. Are you strong enough?*

"For what?" Martha asked, looking up the ramp.

*To stop the dark*

* * *

The Doctor gritted his teeth as yet another mud rut slowed him down. The Master, having not just regenerated, was walking at a normal pace. Unfortunately, this pace was somewhat fast for the Doctor.

"Slow down!"

The Master stopped, amusement in his eyes. He didn't say anything though; just let the Doctor catch up, then continued at a more sedate pace.

Something roared off to their left. It sounded distinctly inhuman. Grinding to a halt, they both scanned the tree line. The Master looked as if he wanted to investigate but, before he could, the Doctor moved off down the path again. "It's probably nothing," he called over his shoulder. He'd go see whatever it was _after_ he'd recovered from his regeneration. And to do that, he needed the TARDIS.

As he moved off into the shadows of the tree's, the Master followed, eyes glowing molten black.

* * *

**Author's Note: ***claps hands* Cliff-hanger! Don't you just love me? XD

Seriously though, hope you liked this chapter. :)


	12. Kardia

**Author's Note: **Just within my 'one chapter per every four days minimum' limit. My explanation is the 3rd patch came out for the Football Manager computer game. For all those who aren't a) computer geeks or b) football geeks, this was a major event, which is why I haven't been writing much. Sorry. ;)

* * *

Gwen rolled over onto her back, yawning widely. Feeling the bed next to her, she found it devoid of Rhys. Pulling herself from the best sleep she'd had in weeks, she cracked open one eye, glancing quickly at the cot in the corner of the room which held her baby. After making sure she was still sleeping soundly, Gwen hauled herself out of bed.

She padded down the corridor, bare feet cold against the exposed brick floor, glancing into each of the rooms in turn. Jack had led them deeper than even the archives, into what she presumed must have been the living space of the people who had founded the Cardiff branch of Torchwood.

Reaching the flight of stairs that lead up to the lower cells, she paused, hearing a faint humming noise coming from above. Then there was a voice.

"Where? Show me!"

Gwen flinched back, hiding in the shadows as a person in red armour slid down the steps, coming to rest gracefully on their feet. Her eyes widened as Rhys followed, pulled along by some kind of invisible force. The only thoughts running through her mind though, were those worrying about her baby. Who was this alien, for that was what she presumed it must be, if it had broken into Torchwood? Who or what did it want? Why had Rhys gone with it without waking her up?

Gwen bit her lip, as she watched the alien drag Rhys off round the corner she had just come from. She was torn between making sure her child was all right, and phoning for help. She set her mind, as she had always known she would have to, on what was best for the Earth, and not for her. And, she reasoned, as she climbed the stairs, Jack would have the greatest chance of killing the alien and saving her baby. Wouldn't he?

* * *

The tree that had chased Martha into the TARDIS had transformed back into its natural form. Now, a tall and grey armoured figure stood in the middle of the forest, thinking on its next move. Every so often a bird would fly too close, and it would raise its head, roaring.

A short click originated from the alien's belt. It lowered its hand, retrieving a small circular device. It held it up to its mouth and growled. "Sir?"

"Have you captured the woman?"

The alien paused, swallowing sharply. "No, sir."

An annoyed click could be heard over the communicator. "Activate your _kardia _tracer. Find what our employers want. Then maybe we can bargain with them."

"Sir." The alien saluted automatically, even though its commanding officer couldn't see it. It quickly swapped its communicator for its _kardia _tracer, and set off into the forest, following the 'beep-beep-beep' of the tracer.

* * *

There was only the dead man called Ricky in UNIT HQ's basement lab to watch as the alien that had killed Jack lumbered forward. It had the body of a snake, long and segmented, ending in a mouth lined with tiny, pincer-like teeth, and long tendrils that waved from side to side protruding from its depths. Its four dog-like legs didn't seem to fit the rest of it though; it was if they had been grafted on by someone who wasn't bothered about appearances.

When it reached Jack it lowered its head, sniffing, though it didn't appear to have a nose. The tendrils within its mouth began to snake towards Jack's head just as he began to stir.

Opening one eye, the first thing Jack saw when he came back to life was a tendril, grey and thin, shooting towards his face. He yelled, automatically throwing up his arms. The tendril wrapped itself around his left arm, and suddenly jerked upwards, lifting him off the ground.

He hung there, eyeing the creature warily. "Any chance of a formal introduction?"

The creature's response was to roar at him, showering him in a hailstorm of mucus.

Jack made a face, keeping his mouth as closed as he possibly could as the mucus dripped down his face. He tried to say "Ew" but, due to not opening his mouth, it came out as more of a gulp.

The creature growled threateningly, and Jack found the tendril holding him begin to move towards the creature's mouth. Its hundreds of small teeth nashed from side to side, as if they were alive and separate from the creature.

Jack began to tug at the tendril surrounding him arm. Though there was only one, it was strong, and managed to hang on. Hand going to his gun holster, Jack found it to be empty. Looking desperately around the lab, he spotted it, quite obviously out of reach, lying at the foot of the broken display case he had been thrown into before.

Falling back on his last reserves, Jack pulled back his fist, sending a crushing punch into the thing's head. The reaction was that he got blinked at, and the tendril tightened, moving up his arm, settling on his throat.

It became clear during the next few seconds that the creature intended to strangle him. While he could have just let it happen, as he would always come back to life, he didn't really fancy waking up half digested in this thing's stomach.

If he could just reach his right ankle, he could get to the knife strapped to it. The creature seemed oblivious to his efforts as he contorted his body sideways, stretching his right arm downwards.

He was exactly three centimetres away when he ran out of air.

The creature dropping the limp body of Jack onto the floor, roaring again. It pawed at him for a few seconds before a slight buzzing from across the lab drew its attention.

The buzzing originated from a slowly growing patch of light, which sparkled and shone, sending waves of light out into the lab. The creature growled, padding closer to the light, sniffing at it. Just as it was about to touch it with one of its tendrils, the light began flashing, faster and faster, and swirling, changing direction every few seconds.

The creature growled, pacing backwards a few steps.

That turned out to be the last thing it ever did. The light exploded, sending small pin pricks of itself out across the room. Four caught the creature in the head, and it screamed as they ripped through its skin, spraying blood across the lab floor.

It fell almost comically, legs giving way slowly, and head falling to the side, through the remains of the bench, crushing the dead man called Ricky beneath its tail.

The light began moving again, before a shape solidified within it. A young woman stepped out of the light, which quickly faded into nothingness behind her. She was holding a black gun, which was raised, and had an array of knives strapped to her belt.

Jenny took a deep breath. It was good to be back.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Da-da-dun! XD

The word: '_kardia_' translates into 'heart'. It's Latin. I am actually in shock that the Latin lessons I took years ago have actually been used for something. O_o


	13. Destroy

**Author's Note: **I really need to write some more of "Returning To The Start", don't I? Just been so caught up in this story that I need to know what happens next as bad as everyone else. XD

I wrote another Doctor Who one-shot a few days ago, called "Punishment". I'd appreciate any reviews I receive for it. Thanks. :)

* * *

Martha moved through the TARDIS corridors, hefting the equipment she had been told to carry to the console room. There was an assortment of wires, a roll of tube piping, and what looked like a loafer.

Dropping her load at the foot of the console, she leant heavily against it. "Anything else you want?"

*No, thank you. That shall be sufficient*

Martha sighed thankfully, pushing herself around the console to collapse into the pilot's chair. "What are you exactly planning..." She paused, eyes wide, as the roll of tube piping unfolded, seemingly by itself, and flew towards the console, before travelling beneath it, into the depths of the TARDIS. "...to do?" Martha finished.

*We will save the Doctor*

"From what?" asked Martha.

The TARDIS paused, Martha could see in her mind. *I am unsure on whether the Doctor would be happy with me telling you what I have planned*

Martha didn't like the sound of that one bit. "I thought you said we were going to stop the dark?"

*We are, my child*

Martha heaved herself out of the pilot's chair. "Tell me!"

The TARDIS whirred a little. *The Doctor will not kill. You will not approve of this*

Martha gripped the console tightly. "Tell me what he's planning."

*He does not know of the plan. He is still recovering*

"From what?"

*His regeneration*, came the reply.

"Oh no." Martha slapped a hand over her eyes. "What happened this time?"

*That is for him to say*

Martha could see the logic in this, so went back a verbal step. "So tell me _your_ plan then."

There was several seconds of silence, then, *I believe it to be best if I showed you what has happened*

Martha nodded, before wondering whether the TARDIS could see her or not. "Okay."

The TARDIS momentarily whirred again, before images began flashing through her mind. She saw through the Doctor's eyes, men and women in long robes, _family enemy death_, an old man with greying hair and a messed up beard, _friend love the-cause_, and...

Martha gasped, and the images suddenly stopped.

*Martha, my child, are you all right?*

Martha gripped the console tighter, breathing in and out deeply, trying to get her fear under control. "He... He won't kill him?"

The TARDIS's answer was slightly sad. *He never could*

* * *

The Brigadier struggled down the corridor, moving through the crowd of soldiers and scientists running the other way. Every so often he would see a soldier he trusted and knew by name, and would pull them out of the mass of bodies, slap some sense into them, and add them to the growing line behind him. So far there were ten men and women behind him, all carrying guns.

As they turned a corner, the Brigadier caught his first glimpse of the monster that had everyone running for the hills. A long segmented body ended in a thick tail that was sweeping from side to side in the corridor, leaving the broken bodies of solider and scientists in its wake. Its head was buried through a set of now-broken double doors, and more screams came from the room it was hidden in.

"Fire!"

The soldiers moved past the Brigadier, raising their guns, and let off a volley of bullets towards the creature. They ripped through the monster's lower body, stopping the movements of its tail for long enough for the Brigadier to move forward, ducking beneath it.

He turned back, still moving, and signalled for them soldiers to withdraw. They paused for a moment, but then the creature's tail began to move again, scattering them.

The Brigadier turned away from creature, moving steadily down the corridor towards the stairs that led down to the UNIT HQ basement. Where was the Doctor when you needed him?

* * *

The Doctor was still moving down the path, getting increasingly uneasy with the way the Master's eyes seemed to be boring into his back. He turned around, aiming to walk backwards, while facing the Master which, he decided, which was decidedly safer. He forgot, however, that he'd just regenerated, and wasn't the best on his feet at present. Because of this, he tripped over his own feet, and ended up in heap on the ground.

He glanced up, expecting to see the Master smirking down at him, and a remark about his accident-proneness at the ready. What he _wasn't_ expecting was the Master to kneel down beside him, and ask, in a very worried voice, whether he was all right or not.

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Are you all right?" the Master repeated.

"Why are you asking me?" The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"

The Master scoffed, reaching out a hand and hauling the Doctor to his feet. "You were the one all over me a minute ago. And now I'm not meant to be concerned about you falling on your backside in the mud?" He scoffed again, brushing the Doctor down.

The Doctor, who was getting far too distracted by this for his own good, stepped out of range. "I'm fine." He eyed the Master with a good deal of suspicion.

The Master shrugged nonchalantly, turning away. "Fine." As the Master was walking away from the Doctor, the Doctor didn't see the grimace of pain which crossed the Master's face.

He also didn't hear the voice that echoed forcibly through the Master's mind.

_You shall not help him! He is ours. You will understand that. Or we will destroy you both!_


	14. Plotting

**Author's note: **I'd like to quickly apologise for not updating in so long. I'd really fallen out with writing fanfiction for a while and have been working on a lot of original stuff. But then I rewatched Tennant's last Christmas special, the episodes that prompted this story to be started in the first place, and my muse returned. I hope everyone's still interested in the story and that you enjoy this chapter. :)

* * *

Rhys gasped as the alien that had ahold of him stopped suddenly, the hand around his throat snapping him backwards. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and small black spots were beginning to appear at the edges of his vision.

The alien let out several high-pitch clicks. "Where is it? Where is it?"

"Where's what?" Rhys managed to choke out.

The alien growled at him, small flecks of red spit trailing down from the corners of its mouth. "You are delicate, human. You are easily broken."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Rhys tried to break the alien's hold on him, throwing himself backwards. He ended up on the ground, with the alien standing over him. It didn't seem to be breathing, Rhys realised. The armour covering the thing's chest was still, eerily so, as it bent its head to look at him.

"Foolish human," it cut out. "You will suffer for what has been done."

Rhys was almost crying now. "What have I done?"

"You? Nothing. You are merely guilty by association." The alien crouched down, curling the hand that wasn't a blade around Rhys' throat again. "Your whole _race_ is guilty by association!"

* * *

Jenny took in her surroundings quickly, eyeing the creature that she had just killed. Her gun slowly fell to her side, as she realised it was well and truly dead. Her eyes quickly skimmed over the rest of the lab, resting on Jack for a moment before she moved over to him. Bending slightly, she felt for a pulse. Finding none, she turned away, and started towards the stairs leading up and out of the lab.

As she reached the stairs, and began to climb them, there was a quiet, almost indiscernible thump from behind her. She froze, head titling slightly to the right, listening intently.

When she heard nothing more, her right hand, hidden by her body, rose fractionally, a finger curling around the trigger of the gun that hung from the strap around her neck.

She tensed her shoulders, before whirling on the spot, dropping back two paces and crouching, bringing her gun up to aim in the direction of the noise.

She was met with the man who, a few seconds before, had been decidedly dead. He was now, however, standing, levelling his own gun at her.

They spoke at the same time.

"Who are you?"

"Stay where you are!"

The question had been asked by Jack and was ignored by Jenny, as she began to inch forward. Jack watched her warily, not moving at all.

"You were dead," Jenny stated.

"What an astute observation," Jack replied sarcastically.

Jenny stopped moving, having descended the steps so she was back in the lab once again. She was still frowning, but her gun had dropped slightly. She narrowed her eyes, seemingly weighing up her response. "You know the Doctor?" she asked finally.

Jack's gun hand wavered. "Why?"

"I do," Jenny shot back.

Jack was silent for a moment. "So do I."

"And what? You're worried that if I mean harm to him and you don't I'll shoot, and vice versa?"

Jack grinned disarmingly. It was funny how not being able to die removed all fear in these situations. "Yeah, pretty much." He slowly lowered his gun. "I'm Jack."

Jenny cocked her head to one side. "Harkness?"

"Aw, you've heard of me!" Jack holstered his gun, smirking. "I'm flattered."

"I'm Jenny."

There was a moment of silence, where Jack tried to think up something witty to say. Finally, "I've got nothing."

Jenny smirked back, lowering the gun. "Wouldn't be much of a change."

Jack grinned. Before he could come back with any sort of snappy reply though, there was a loud crash from above, causing them both to whip round.

"Are there any more of the creatures?" Jenny asked.

The reply was the Brigadier tumbling haphazardly down the stairs, somehow managing to fire his gun up them in between rolls.

Jack moved forward quickly, placing himself in between the Brigadier and the stairs, gun in his hand again. After a moment, "What were you shooting at?"

The Brigadier heaved himself to his feet, breathing heavily. "There are those creatures all over the base. They're everywhere!" He shook out his left arm gingerly. "Where's the Doctor when you need him?"

"You know the Doctor too?" Jenny asked.

The Brigadier looked at her and did a double take. "Who are you?"

Another echoing crash sounded from above them, prompting Jack to begin moving up the stairs. "Come on. We've got to clear the base of these... things. Then we can get in contact with the Doctor and clear up this whole mess. The Master included."

* * *

Gwen rushed into the main area of the Hub, moving straight to her desk and seizing her phone, dialling the number to UNIT HQ and raising it to her ear. Jack would know what to do. He always does, she thought.

In UNIT HQ, the phone Gwen was dialling rang three times. Halfway through the fourth ring, a tendril snaked out from the doorway and batted the phone across the room and into the wall. The ringing stopped.

* * *

In the darkness, the humble beast of burden plotted of terrible things.

_He is worse than you_, it said, and drove the forces against each other.

_I have seen death and sorrow on a scale unimaginable_, it said, and drove the forces together.

_I can kill you all with a blink of my eye_, it said, and destroyed the forces completely.

* * *

**Author's note: **I'd like people's opinions on the last scene especially. I'm not too sure about it, so it would be great to know what people think. Thanks for reading. :)


	15. Save Me?

The grey armoured alien was making steady progress through the dense forest, following the regular beeps of the tracer in his hand. If he could succeed in his mission, he would be rich beyond his wildest dreams. His employers had promised a great reward for the prize he was following and if he were to be the one to bring it in, then he would be renowned amongst his kind.

The beeping became more persistent and he muted it, placing it back inside his suit and creeping forward silently. He could see a narrow track ahead of him, where two men were walking side by side.

One of the men was wearing an over-sized brown coat and limping slightly, trying to hide it from the other man. The second man was wearing a hoodie and the look of him set the alien on edge. There was only meant to be one. Which was the right one?

Taking out his _kardia_ tracer, he glanced at it quickly, frowning as it showed that both of the beings had two hearts. Sliding the tracer back into his suit, he powered the laser gun docked into the arm of his suit and stepped out behind the two men.

* * *

The TARDIS had almost finished her work and sighed deeply as she had to move to wake up Martha.

*My child?*

Martha raised her head from the pilot's seat and blinked sleepily.

*My child, you must hide*

"Why?" Martha sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

*They are close. If this does not work, you must fight him once again*

A cold shiver ran down Martha's spine. That was the last thing in the entire Universe she wanted. To have to relive that year of hell. "What do you mean 'if it doesn't work'? It has to, doesn't it?"

The TARDIS was silent for a moment. *I do not know how the Master will react. He has been changed and is therefore unpredictable*

Standing, Martha crossed to the console. "How has he been changed?" She felt a sudden rush of fear, but it wasn't her own; it was the TARDIS'.

*He lived through what he ran from once. He ran because he knew it would destroy him. Now we must see if he was correct*

* * *

"Where did you go?" It had been quiet for too long and the Doctor needed to break the silence, even if it were only to distract him from the post-regeneration pounding in his head.

The Master glanced up at him, considering his answer. "...I think it's jolly rude of you that you haven't even thanked me for saving your life. I could have let Rassilon eat you alive, but no, I selflessly sacrificed myself for you. And I don't even get a 'thank you, Master'." He shook his head. "Shocking."

The Doctor managed to both droop and look scandalised at the same time. "I believe I saved _your_ life right before that!"

"By _not _shooting me?" The Master scoffed. "Well, don't _you_ deserve a medal!"

The Doctor scowled at him. "Seeing as I died anyway it doesn't really count!"

Growling, the Master turned and grabbed hold of the Doctor's arm. "It wasn't my fault you felt the need to sacrifice yourself for a geriatric who's probably not going to see many more years anyway."

Pausing, open mouthed, the Doctor frowned. "How do you know about how I died?"

Before the Master could answer, there was a crash from the path they had come from, causing both their heads to whip round. A humanoid in grey armour was facing them, arm outstretched and the laser embedded in his arm powered. The wind whistled through the trees as the three regarded each other, the only noise to be heard in the tense landscape.

"Well," said the Doctor. "Hello."

The creature hissed warningly. "Which one of you owns the time machine?"

The Doctor glanced at the Master, who still had his attention fixed on the creature in front of them. "Well... it's really quite hard to say actually. Which time machine do you mean? In the great expanse of the Universe, there have to be hundreds of time machines, and that's just the ones that work. Though you couldn't very well want one that _doesn't _work, could do? That would just be silly... Unless you were looking to learn about them... which would actually work better if you had a working model too for that matter. So the answer to your question is it could be me, it could be him, it could be both of us, or it could be neither. It all depends on how you look at it."

Next to him, the Master turned to face the creature fully, wearing a look that the Doctor didn't like at all.

"So..." The Doctor swallowed and continued. "Do we _really_ look like time travellers? I mean, we're not glamorous or stately or anything like that." He glanced down at himself. "I have clothes that are too big and he," he jabbed a finger in the Master's direction, "looks like he's been living rough for weeks. Logically, if we were time travellers we'd have a bit of 'bling', don't you think?"

The creature growled, several clicks emitting from its mouth and laser drifting between being focused on the Doctor and being focused on the Master. "You will tell me which one of you owns the time machine!"

Well within his stride now, the Doctor shook his head. "Now you see, you're not _listening_. I first gave you four possible options for answers." He held up four fingers. "It can't very well be both of us, as you've already thrown that scenario right out the window before even giving me a chance to speak." He lowered one finger. "Since then I've put across several points of why it can't be me and why it can't be him." He pointed at the Master before lowering a further two fingers. "Therefore, _logically_, the only option left would be that _neither_ of us has a time machine handy."

The creature opened his mouth and let out a shuddering roar, laser gun sliding round to focus on the Doctor, a whine coming from within it as it charged to fire. Just as it discharged however, the Master gave a growl himself and shoved the Doctor to the ground, causing the laser beam to miss him by several inches.

The Doctor looked up from the mud which he'd fallen into. "...And I guess you want a thank you this—"

Interrupting him before he could get any further, the Master hissed at the creature, having not taken his eyes off him. "I am _so_ _hungry_."

And his skeleton flashed.


	16. Gunned Down

**Author's Note: **Apologises for the short chapter, but I'm aiming to upload a chapter once a week (on Friday or before) and I'd pretty much written everything I could in this scene. Also, good luck to any of my readers who are taking part in NaNoWriMo. I'd love to know how you're getting on and I'll be rooting for you. :)

* * *

Gwen shook slightly as the ringing coming down the phone stopped dead. Gripping it tightly, trying to keep her breathing even, she slowly redialled, only to be met with a 'the number you are calling is currently unavailable' message. Placing the phone carefully down on the table she gathered herself together before turning back the way she had come. If she couldn't reach Jack, then she could at least make sure her family was protected.

As she padded back down the corridors, the silence was worth than if there were cries of pain from up ahead. She sped up, moving down the final flight of steps and arriving at where she saw the alien holding her husband before. Now though, there was nobody here, and there was blood on the floor.

She ran towards the room where her baby was, peering cautiously round the edge of the door frame when she reached it. Both the alien and Rhys were in there, Rhys pinned against the wall by a hand around his throat.

And the alien was bending over the edge of the cot where their baby was.

* * *

Jack threw himself out of the way of another tentacle as it flashed downwards, missing him by inches and striking the floor with a wet thud. There was a rattle as bullets flew over his head from Jenny's gun, burying themselves in the creature and dropping it to the floor.

There was a period of silence as Jack hauled himself back his feet and retrieved his gun from a pile of goo a short way away. That creature had taken some punishment and its body was riddled to bullet holes and a deep cut across its neck from Jack's knife. The Brigadier had moved up the corridor away from them and was supporting his men as they fired through a set of double door at what was presumably another one of the creatures.

"Come on!" Jack shouted, taking Jenny's arm and tugging her away from the soldiers. "We'll try to flank it!"

The ran down the corridor, moving through two sets of doors before arriving at the corner where the creature should be. There was nothing there, however, and Jack frowned, peering cautiously around the corner only to jerk his head back a second later as a spray of bullets whipped narrowly past his head.

"Hold your fire!" he shouted. The gunfire stopped abruptly and a responding voice answered. "Captain Harkness?"

Sighing in annoyance, Jack stepped out from behind the wall. "Yes. Quite obviously. Now what the hell were you shooting at?"

The soldier who he was talking to suddenly reared back, eyes going wide with fear as they focused on something behind Jack. Jack had just enough time to whip around, gun wavering slightly when there was nothing there but a white washed wall, before bullet after bullet thudded into his back and he fell to the ground.

* * *

Rhys was fighting even harder now, desperate to protect his child from this monster. It seemed to be regarding the child with confusion, but Rhys didn't care. It wasn't even going to _look _at his child.

He suddenly spied Gwen over the creature's shoulder. She was huddled in the doorway, assessing the situation. He wanted to scream at her. Nothing matter but our child. How can she think about tactics now?

He saw her eyes flick over to the bedside table. Following them, he saw her gun there. She won't be able to reach it, he thought. The creature would see her. He tried to shake his head, but the grip on his neck wouldn't allow him to do so.

She started to edge her way into the room, keeping her eyes fixed on the creature, wary of any movement.

Rhys blanched at the creature turned to look at him once again, sure that it would see Gwen, who had frozen in the middle of the room. But it didn't, and merely growled again.

"What is this... _thing_?"

Rhys growled back, fear over-ridden. "That _thing_ is my child, you bastard."

It put its head on one side. "What is... 'child'?"

Rhys's eyes flicked to Gwen. She made a motion to keep talking, to keep the creature distracted so she could reach her gun. Licking his lips, he looked back at the creature. He could do this.

"She's my daughter. Don't hurt her."

The creature hissed. "I do not _hurt_ defenceless beings." Before Rhys could let his relief show, the creature continued. "That is for the others to do, and I will take both of you and my prize to them. Then you will know pain, _pathetic human_."

Rhys choked as the hand tightened once again and Gwen moved across the room faster.

The creature spat, shouting, "Pathetic human!" before whipping round and firing a laser beam directly at Gwen's head.


	17. Imagination

**Author's Notes:** A few people have asked whether I'll be continuing this story and my other Doctor Who stories. So everyone knows, I'm working on this story the most at the moment, aiming to write a chapter per week. When I came back after those three or four months when I didn't post anything, I looked through my story plan for "Returning To The Start" and it quite confused me. While I know that if I sit down and read through everything a good few times I'll figure it out, I'm finding it a lot more enjoyable to just write at the moment. The second chapter of "Punishment", which a lot of people asked for, is about half written and if I get the motivation to write that, I will. This story though, is the main focus at the moment.

Thank you once again to all the people who have read and/or reviewed so far. I hope everyone will enjoy this chapter just as much as the previous ones. One last thing, my 'u' key has been sticking quite a lot. I've tried to get all of them I left out throughout the chapter, but if there are any I've missed, please point them out to me. Thanks. :)

* * *

A bolt of lightning shot from one of the Master's hands, hitting the creature square in the chest and sending it spiralling backwards to the ground. The Doctor, cursing the fact that things could never be easy, Master or no Master, got cautiously to his feet, not sure if being this close to regeneration would be a help or a hindrance if he was hit with the lightning again.

"Master?"

The Master ignored him, pacing forwards like a predator towards the downed creature, who was unmoving. The lightning was flashing from one hand to the other, fists clenching and unclenching as it did so.

Swallowing, the Doctor moved forward, clamping a hand onto the Master's arm, and speaking firmly. "Stop."

Pausing, the Master's head slowly turned towards the Doctor, who expected to see anger there. Instead, there was nothing. No emotion, no light, nothing. The Doctor shivered, letting his hand drop away. "Master?"

The Master hissed, but by now the Doctor knew that whatever was making that noise wasn't the Master. Liquid dark was spreading through his eyes, not turning them quite black; more glossy, shiny.

Taking a step back, the Doctor shook his head. "What are you?"

The Master hissed again, high pitched and with a hint of madness to it. "Murderer!" He started towards the Doctor, skeleton flashing faster and faster."You'll pay for the pain you put us through. The humiliation you forced on us when all we wanted was to serve. You deserve to _rot_, you pathetic excuse for a Time Lord!"

The Doctor hid his flinch, backing away to keep some distance between them. "It's not nice to take over other people's bodies you know. Someone might get seriously hurt."

A screech erupted from the Master's mouth, eyes now molten black and glowing. "_Hurt?_ You dare to speak about _hurt? _We fought and died and it was _you_, Doctor, who destroyed us and then ran like a coward."

The Master stopped, his head at an unnatural angle. "This being knows about your cowardice, Doctor. He has watched you run so many times. And yet _he_ is the one who suffers, while you hide behind your _miserable_" his skull flashed again, "Earth, and hope for salvation."

The Doctor shook his head again, holding up his hands and trying not to let the words affect him. "Look, whatever's been done, we can talk about it. I can fix it."

The Master screeched again. "You cannot fix this! Your cowardice will not allow you to. The body you inhabit proves this." He started forward again. "We, however, will save our people and condemn you to where you belong: the very depths of the Vortex!"

He leapt forward, leaving the ground completely as he aimed for the Doctor, hands outstretched and crackling.

* * *

As Jack hit the floor, blood seeping out from beneath his shirt to cover the bland, concrete ground, Jenny peered out from behind the wall and levelled the gun at the soldier who had fired.

"Drop it!"

The solider blinked at a spot behind Jack, gun slowly dropping to his side. "But-"

The Brigadier burst round the corner, in a way Jenny thought was very unsafe and foolhardy. "What's going on?"

The soldier who had shot Jack stood up and Jenny nodded at him. "He just shot Jack. You should really train your soldiers better."

"But," the solider shook his head, "there was one of those... _creatures_, right there." He pointed to a spot behind where Jack's body lay.

When Jenny turned to look, however, there was nothing but a plain wall. "And what did it do?" she said, curling her lip in disgust. "Just fade away?" Moving to Jack's side, she checked his pulse, hoping that he'd come back to life again and it hadn't been just a one time deal.

Another soldier spoke to the Brigadier. "Sir... it was there. It just seemed to vanish after we shot him." He pointed at Jack. "Maybe he was the problem."

"No, I don't think so." The Brigadier shook his head and spoke quickly into his radio. "Report. Are there any more of the creatures on the base?"

After a pause, "No, sir. We've done a clean sweep and there are no unidentified lifeforms. They were being picked up before, and now they're gone."

The Brigadier nodded, hoping his suspicions weren't going to be confirmed. "How many were there?"

"Seven, sir. Three in the grounds and the rest within the building."

Frowning, he looked up. "How many did you kill?"

"Two," Jenny answered. "One down in the basement and one coming out of your office."

The soldiers looked at each other. "But... we didn't kill any. They kept getting hit but they didn't go down."

"And did they move through walls too?" Jenny shook her head scathingly, quickly turning to Jack as he gasped back into life.

The Brigadier shook his head. "With everything's that happened, I believe I have the answer. Follow me."

As he set off down the corridor, Jenny helped Jack to stand and brushed him down, while the soldier who shot him looked down at his feet uncomfortably. "Sir, I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't worry about it." Jack clapped him on the back as he passed him, his other arm slung around Jenny's shoulders for support. Once out of hearing range, he made a face at Jenny. "Humans, huh?"

Jenny laughed and nodded. "They're pretty mad, yeah."

They followed the Brigadier through the corridors until they reached a room full of screens, showing different sections of the base and the grounds. He sat at the chair in front of them and started to work at the keyboard, bringing up the videos of the past battle.

In video after video were the soldiers, both outside and within the building, firing at various points. Two cameras showed creatures, the one in the basement and the one outside the Brigadier's office. All the other videos were empty, the soldiers firing at thin air.

* * *

The Doctor leapt backwards with a yelp, tripping over the tail of his coat and falling to the ground. The Master landed in front of him, ready to strike. Before he could though, the dark light within his eyes dimmed slightly. He raised a hand to his head, swaying as if the wind was knocking him off balance.

When the hand dropped, his eyes were back to their natural colour, and it was the Master who spoke, "Doctor?" before crumpling to the ground.

The Doctor blinked at where the Master lay, before quickly rising to his feet and moving to his side. He carefully turned him over onto his back, taking in the deathly pale look his face had, his closed eyes, and his shallow breathing.

Making a quick decision and knowing the TARDIS wasn't very far away, he heaved the Master up onto his shoulders, wincing at the weight, and set off down the path again.

Behind them, unbeknownst to either Time Lord, the alien stirred, raising its head and watching them move away.


	18. Taken

**Author's Note**: Thank you to Aietradaea, who pointed out that the scanners in the UNIT base didn't pick up Jenny as a non-human life form in the previous chapter. She pointed it out and helped me to fix it, so thank you. :)

Also, there probably won't be a chapter next week, due to me turning 17 on Wednesday. So I'll be doing lots of birthday stuff during the week and won't have much time to write anything. Thank you to everyone reading again. :)

* * *

Martha was crouched beneath the grating of the console room, hidden from view as long as no one stood right above her and looked down. She watched as the TARDIS doors slowly creaked open, and shrank further into the shadows, scared that it might be one of the creatures that had been hunting her before. A stranger came through the doors, however, but Martha knew who he must be. He was wearing the long brown coat of the Doctor she had known, so this must be his new body. It was shorter than the old one, with longer hair and rugged expression on his face. He should look young, she thought, but currently all he looked was in pain. She moved to help him, seeing that he was carrying someone in his arms, but the TARDIS hissed at her.

*No, my child. Stay*

Sinking back into a crouch, she watched as the Doctor moved to set the man down on the pilot's chair. She felt a stab of fear and anger when she realised who it was, hair blonde and in dirty clothes, but it could be no one but the Master. The Doctor slumped against the console, seemingly exhausted. She wanted to help him, but stayed where she was, wary of the TARDIS' warning.

"Come on, girl." The Doctor stroked the console. "Get us out of here."

The engines of the TARDIS began to grind and the Doctor's eyes fell closed, only for a harsh rattling to build deep within the console, ending in silence.

"What is it?" He started to move around the console, pressing buttons frantically. He came across one of the roles of pipe Martha had brought in here at the TARDIS' request and frowned. "What be this?" He stuck his head under the console, following the pipe, just as the TARDIS doors swung open once again.

The Doctor didn't hear the doors open, too engrossed in the contraption he'd found beneath the console. "Did you build this?" Stupid question really. There was no one else but the TARDIS who could have built this. "Hmm..." he stroked his chin thoughtfully. "What _are_ you up to, girl?"

He heard the steps on the grating when they were right behind him, and didn't have time to turn before he was hoisted up into the air by the collar of his coat, and spun round.

He found himself face to face with the alien that the Master had shocked earlier. "...Is there any particular reason you keep following us, or do you just think we look pretty?"

The alien sniffed at him, then spoke, surprisingly calm after his earlier outburst. "It's hard, you know. Doing what I do. It's not the glamorous like everyone thinks it is."

The Doctor, after a moment, nodded. "Very few things are."

The alien set him down, looking around. "I don't want either of you. I merely want this ship. At the end of the day, this is the ship that will... how does the Earth saying go? 'Pay the bills'? Yes, that's it." He moved off around the console.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and followed him. "You seem like a reasonable fellow. Why not talk about this?"

"Talk is cheap. Duty is where the prize lays." The alien sounded as if he was reciting.

Martha moved slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible, over to where the Master lay. Once she was beneath the pilot's chair, she was behind the creature, and waved slightly to catch the Doctor's attention. The TARDIS had told her to hide under the assumption that the Master would be fully conscious when he came into the TARDIS and, as this wasn't the case, she felt a duty to help.

When she caught the Doctor's eyes though, she was surprised when he simply turned away. What was he doing, she thought, as he continued to talk.

"Talk isn't cheap. Talk can be very good in fact. Without talk, we wouldn't have everything. There's only so much that can be communicated by smashing someone else's head in, you know." He looked disapproving.

The creature turned to face the Doctor, shaking his head. "I apologise for this. It's nothing personal. It is merely duty."

And he raised his arm, laser trained on the Doctor.

* * *

Gwen dived backwards with a cry as the laser fired at her. Twisting at an unnatural angle, she managed to pull her head out of the firing line, the laser bolt impacting her shoulder instead. Still, that was enough to make her fall to the floor in pain, a burn rapidly spreading across the injured area.

Trying to haul herself to her feet, she found that her injured arm wasn't able to move, a numb feeling spreading from her shoulder across her chest. Collapsing back to the floor, she drew in ragged breaths, trying to inhale evenly. She heard Rhys calling, but she couldn't make out what he was saying, as if he was very far away and calling through fog.

She felt her head touch the ground as the fog began to creep into the edges of her vision: thick, viscous spider webs, consuming her sight as she lay there, defenceless.

When she came to several hours later, Rhys was sitting slumped against the wall, a look of abject defeat in his face. And their baby was gone.


	19. Noise

It's been quite a while since I've updated this, so to any returning readers who don't want to read the whole thing back again:

The Master has reappeared and is acting a little more crazier than usual. He is currently unconscious on the floor of the TARDIS. The Doctor has regenerated and is also in the TARDIS with an alien pointing a gun at him. Martha is beneath them, hidden, having been hunted and evading two more aliens, one of which she killed. Jack, the Brigadier and Jenny are at UNIT HQ, having prevented an alien incursion. They have discovered that the aliens can create illusions. Gwen and Rhys are in the Torchwood Hub, having been taken there by Jack. Another alien infiltrated the Hub (by pretending to be selling pizza!) and has kidnapped their baby.

* * *

"Now, does it really have to come to this?" The Doctor spread his hands - in what he hoped was a placating gesture.

The alien titled its head to the side for a moment. "Well," it said, "I feel I'm being quite reasonable when I say that if you co-operate, nothing bad will happen to you."

"Really?" The Doctor thought that sounded too good to be true.

"But I'd be lying."

Yeah, there you go.

Martha shifted subtly beneath the grating, trying to ascertain what the alien wanted from its body language. She'd been taking some psychology classes in her spare time, as being able to settle on whether an alien was friendly or in the decidedly bad-for-your-health region was apparently quite useful in the field.

The thing wasn't breathing as far as she could see, its arm locked onto the Doctor unwaveringly. At least, she _hoped_ it was the Doctor. He acted like himself, but she had never seen a regeneration before, and didn't know if there were any parameters she should be considering.

Brown hair? Check.

Terrible attitude for dealing with people pointing guns at you? Check.

Unhealthy obsession with the Master? Check.

She felt she could safely say that the Doctor was the Doctor.

But what did he want her to do? When they'd been traveling together, he always seemed to have way of communicating with his eyes what he wanted her to do in a situation such as this. Now, he was just ignoring her, which could mean a whole variety of things.

She glanced quickly at the prone form of the Master and almost gave away her position by jumping backwards.

His eyes were open and they were fixed on her. A glowing darkness emanated from them.

She felt like she was burning alive.

"Personally," said the Doctor, "I don't think that's very polite, do you?" He shifted slightly, hands dropping to his sides. "After all, who's going to pilot the TARDIS if I'm dead?" He grinned, feeling very pleased with himself.

The alien hissed at him. "TARDIS?"

He blinked slowly. "Hmm... probably shouldn't have mentioned that, huh?" He considered his right hand for a moment.

He then made a dash to the side, waving his arms in the air. "Hey, shoot me!"

Martha watched the Master's gaze snap away from her the moment the Doctor moved, frowning as she observed the flicker of panic crossing his features as the alien weapon discharged, missing the Doctor narrowly as he landed on the hard deck plating.

The Master was up in a moment, fatigue gnawing at him as the voice continued to drone.

_We need him_.

He raised his right hand, aimed at the alien, which was facing away from him, bearing down on the Doctor.

_Do not help him_.

He found these two commands to be completely contradictory, and moved the hand to his head, digging the heel of it into his right eye.

_You cannot silence me_.

"I am a Time Lord!" he screamed.

His eyes flicked open to see the alien staring at him. Had he spoken aloud?

Everyone seemed to be looking at him and he couldn't stand it. It was just too much, the light, the room the pain in his head the light the Doctor the light the alien the light the

_NOISE  
_

* * *

Jack paced up and down for a moment, information turning over in his brain, thinking - like he always tried to - like the Doctor thought.

"So," he said slowly, "We know that they can make us see things." He turned to the Brigadier. "You should tell your soldiers to not engage anything unless it directly threatens them or the safety of fellow humans."

"Or just throw a grenade at it," Jenny added helpfully.

The Brigadier stared at her for a moment. "Somehow, I don't think that would help the situation." He gave several precise commands over his radio. "So who are you anyway?"

Jenny grinned. "I'm Jenny."

Jack felt like saying 'no shit' but decided against it. "How do you know the Doctor?"

She thought for a moment, attempting to find a way she could put it across as gently as possible. Finding no such way, she settled on simply blurting it out.

"I'm the Doctor's daughter."

There was a shocked silence for a moment, before the two men burst into speech at the same time.

"Daughter?" The Brigadier demanded.

"The Doctor has _sex_?" Jack wondered aloud.

Both Jenny and the Brigadier's attentions were fixed resolutely on Jack. He blinked. "Don't tell me you've never wondered," he said, directing his comment to the Brigadier at the last moment.

The man considered him with an inscrutable gaze before turning back to Jenny. "How do we know you're telling the truth?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Time Lord. Regeneration. Gallifrey. TARDIS. Half found out from the Doctor himself and the other from my travels since. And oh yeah," she winced. "Never kill anything, no matter how much it wants to kill you."

Jack considered for a second and decided he was sold on the last point, which was extremely annoying if anyone asked him.

"Have you had contact with him recently?"

She shook her head. "I just followed the signals of the hostiles here. They've been popping up on planets all around the Universe, hunting for something. Or _someone_."

A heavy feeling of dread settled in Jack's stomach.

"Do you know the Master?" he asked.

Jenny narrowed her eyes at him appraisingly, and shook her head.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

In the darkness, the humble beast of burden plotted of terrible things.

_This is what you fought for, _it said, and drove the forces against each other.

_This is what we fought for, _it said, and drove the forces together.

_This is how it will end,_ it said, and destroyed the forces completely.


	20. Battle Lines Drawn

"Jack!"

The cry when he answered the phone ripped right through him. It was the kind of cry Gwen had let out when Rhys was dead and he knew the Master had found them. He had found Gwen and Rhys and their baby and he felt so completely inadequate that he just wanted to crawl away and hide.

"It's okay," he answered.

"They took her, Jack." Her voice was broken by sobs and there was an underlying tone of the need to kill something that Jack understood only too well.

"It's okay," he repeated.

"It's not okay!" she screamed, her voice pitching out over the phone's speakers to carry to the others in the room. "If he hurts her I swear on this fucking planet I will kill you!"

He didn't say anything.

What could he say?

"Jack-" He heard a clatter and realised she had just collapsed. "Say something. _Do_ something."

He considered for less than ten seconds before he arrived at a suitable solution. "Go to the safe in my office. The pass code is 4-15-3-20-15-18. Find the device marked RD4. Use it." He gripped the phone tighter. "Gwen, while there is breath in my body, I will ensure nothing happens to your daughter. Do you understand me?"

There was a loud sniff. "Yes."

"Good. Do it now." He hung up the phone. Who took a child as a hostage? Who was that much of a coward?

No one respected the rules of war anymore.

He turned to the Brigadier. "The Master has initiated hostile action against the people in my command." He took a deep breath, desperately hoping that this wouldn't backfire horribly. "Request permission to call in a few favours from off world friends to find him."

The Brigadier looked at him dubiously. "Friends?"

Jack nodded. "They will do whatever it takes to help me find him."

"Are any of these friends likely to blow up the planet?"

Jack bit the inside of his cheek. "They will do whatever it takes to neutralize the Master."

The Brigadier still didn't look convinced. "I'll have to clear it with my superiors."

Jack nodded, already dismissing him, and turned to Jenny. "You can fight?"

Jenny inclined her head slightly, a hint of amusement playing across her features as Jack flipped his phone open again as soon as the Brigadier left the room.

"And you can kill?" He raised the phone to his ear. "No matter what the Doctor's taught you."

"Yes, sir."

He nodded sharply and turned his back on her as someone picked up at the other end of the line.

"I don't care who you're doing or what time it is," he growled. "I need a favour."

As he listened to the response a look caught between amusement and disgust swept across his face. "Fuck off, John. Just get down here." He paused. "Please."

* * *

The Doctor looked on with slightly widened eyes as the Master sank back to his knees, holding his head and just s_creaming_. His initial urge to help was swept aside as another force of pain racked through his body. He curled into a ball and bit down on his hand, trying to keep as quiet a possible.

Martha's eyes flicked between the three aliens above her. The Doctor looked to be in a lot of pain and she itched to go to his side, to use her limited knowledge of alien anatomy to help.

The alien's head was moving between the Doctor and the Master like it was watching a rather fast paced tennis match. In Martha's opinion, it looked extremely frazzled.

"What did I do?!" It hopped from one foot to another.

The Doctor let out a muffled grunt from behind his hand.

"Was it something I said?" It looked close to tears.

The Master collapsed sideways, shaking violently.

"No no no... Look, I'm putting away the gun!" It waved its arms about and then deposited its gun in its holster.

Martha slowly began to move around the console towards the stairs, just as the Doctor jerked and a glow of energy left his body and floated into the TARDIS walls.

The alien was still for a moment, before the gun was back out. The Doctor had the distinct urge to comment that if the alien thought that was what all the fuss was about in the first place, it would hardly help reintroducing it into play.

People with guns are stupid, he thought.

He gripped the console with one hand and pulled himself up, swaying slightly. "I- I do not... recognise your right to... point that at me."

The alien glanced at its gun. "Fly it," it hissed, motioning at the TARDIS.

The Doctor crossed his arms. "I very well shall not. You see..." He skipped around the console. "This bit's broken. Don't actually remember what it did anyway, but it's a matter of principle. I'm pretty sure the dematerialisation circuit is fried and oh yeah." He bounced over to the alien. "Do you know what a chameleon circuit is? We can't _possibly _take off with that on the fritz."

Martha chose that moment to show herself again, which the Doctor thought was exceedingly polite, letting him finish and everything. She was armed with a baseball bat, which was perfectly fine in his book. Sometime you had to hit things after all. Hitting things was good.

Actually, no, he didn't think that's how it went.

Martha made her move, slipping out of the shadows next to the alien and aiming carefully at the back of its head. It fell with a clunk and Martha hit it again just for good measure.

"Martha!" He sounded overjoyed.

"Doctor!" She ginned and ran forwards.

He seized her by the shoulders and held her at arm's length. "Martha!"

She frowned slightly, not sure what to do. "Doctor?"

He suddenly hugged her, pulling her off her feet. "Martha!"

She laughed into his slightly longer hair. "Are you all right?"

"Hmm..." He considered. "Am I all right?" He prodded himself in the chest. "Well, I'm in one piece, which all in all, I'm quite happy with. That's not always the way, you know." He looked rather serious.

"Can I do anything to help?"

There was a clattering from behind her and the Doctor smoothly shifted her till he was in between the Master and her. "Get the alien's gun and any other weapons it has."

The Doctor moved forwards slowly, reaching the Master in a few steps and dropping to one knee. "Master?" He reached out a hand to fist in the back of his hoody and rolled him over.

The Master's eyes immediately flew open, half focused.

_He is here._

He shook his head from side to side sharply.

_The TARDIS is here._

The Doctor stilled his head with a hand on his chin. "Master?"

_Take them._

"Can't breathe..." It wasn't letting him.

"I've got you. You're all right." The Doctor slowly shrugged himself out of his great coat and laid it beneath the Master's head. "You're safe now."

The Master felt like laughing. "No, not safe. Never safe. They got into my head. They _did_ things." He turned his head away, not wanting the Doctor to see the tears threatening to fall.

_Take him!_

The Doctor swallowed sharply. "I can help. I've always been able to Master. Just let me."

"What can you _help _with?" The Master hissed, raising himself to the same height as the Doctor. "All you've ever done is make it _hurt_."

The Doctor felt the words hit him hard and could hardly keep the distraught out of his eyes. He had to keep control. Falling to regeneration sickness wouldn't help either of them.

_We need him._

The Master reached out a hand, burying it in the Doctor's shirt. "Need you. I need you. You're needed. If you go away it will hurt." He raises his eyes to the Doctor's. "Don't go away again?"

The Doctor stared down at the Master. Wasn't it ironic that the only times they were truthful were when they were dying?

"I'm not going anywhere." He made to wrap his arms around the other man but faltered, not sure of the reaction that would receive.

_TAKE HIM!_

The Master moved suddenly, crashing into the Doctor and sending him backwards. His hands crackled with electricity as he wrapped them around the Doctor's throat.

His eyes glowed black and red.

* * *

**Author's Note:** 4-15-3-20-15-18 is a very simple code, changing letters into numbers. And I've always liked John, you can't hold it against me. :P


End file.
